Rams 2012 schedule

The official 2012 schedule for the Rams, announced by the NFL last night:

Despite finishing as the 2nd-worst team last season, the Rams have the league's fifth-hardest schedule.

Sun. Sept 9 - at Detroit, noon. Teacher vs. pupil matchup: Jeff Fisher vs. Jim Schwartz. Cortland Finnegan starts his Rams career lined up against Megatron. Good luck.

Sun. Sept 16 - home opener vs. the Redskins, 3:05. Think I'd rather have to face Robert Griffin III early in the season than late.

Sun. Sept 23 - at Chicago, noon. For the second straight week, the Rams face a QB drafted by a pick they dealt to Mike Shanahan, Jay Cutler this time. Only takes three weeks for the schedule to screw the Rams by having them face a team coming off a Thursday game.

Sun. Sept 30 - Seattle here, noon. Chris Long and Robert Quinn get their first cracks at Matt Flynn.

Thurs. Oct 4 - Big Dead here, 7:20. Wee-ha, a stupid Thursday night game! Maybe the Rams could take the televised opportunity to beat the freaking Big Dead at freaking home for the first freaking time since 2-thousand-freaking-FOUR?!?!?

Sun. Oct 14 - at Miami, noon. Rams get a couple of extra days to take their talents to... oh, never mind. Having failed to lure Jeff Fisher to South Beach (sorry) in the offseason, Dolphins owner Stephen Ross could have this game circled on his calendar. IIRC, however, Miami has been terrible at home recently.

Sun. Oct 21 - Green Bay here, noon. One of the Rams' de facto ten road games in 2012. More Cheeseheads in attendance, or yards passing by Aaron Rodgers? Could be close.

Sun. Oct 28 - New England. The stupid London game. Brady and Rodgers back-to-back weeks, ouch. And who wants to bet Josh McDaniels gets The Worst Play of All Time - the halfback option pass back to the QB that failed miserably for the Rams twice last season - to work for a TD in this game? NFL.com is already billing this game as "Blowout in Britain." Fuck you, NFL.com.

Sun. Nov 4 - BYE

Sun. Nov 11 - at San Francisco, 3:15. Both teams coming off bye weeks, which is how the league should schedule them, but almost never does. Any offense at all will be an improvement; the Rams did not score there last year.

Sun. Nov 18 - N.Y. Jets here, noon. TEBOW TIME! Less headline-worthy, Kurt Schottenheimer will look for revenge against his old team, which is 0-3 all-time vs. the Rams in St. Louis. And if anybody can figure out how to get a team riled up for getting the score run up on them 47-3 four years ago in East Rutherford, it's Jeff Fisher.

Sun. Nov 25 - at Big Dead, 3:15. Larry Fitzgerald was about the only WR I ever heard say he had a hard time playing against Ron Bartell. We'll see how he fares with Finnegan, who I hope is a little better at detecting when he's being thrown at.

Sun. Dec 2 - San Francisco here, noon. I'm guessing it will be a bad idea to go after Alex Smith's head, Frank Gore's head, Kyle Williams' head, Vernon Davis' ankles or that fakeass diva Michael Crabtree's knees in this game. Also, is this the over/under week for how long Randy Moss lasts as a 49er?

Sun. Dec 9 - at Buffalo, noon. Wow, they couldn't have done the Buffalo trip in September and the Miami trip here? And why does a dome team get stuck with three road games the final four weeks? Mismatch of the season in this one: Jason Smith, or whoever's replaced him by this point, vs. Mario Williams.

Sun. Dec 16 - Minnesota here, noon. Seriously, what's the last time the Rams' home season was over before Christmas? You don't get too many marquee matchups between workhorse RBs in the NFL any more, so enjoy Steven Jackson vs. Adrian Peterson while it lasts.

Sun. Dec 23 - at Tampa Bay, noon. I don't think the Rams in St. Louis have ever beaten the Buccaneers on the road, though they should have won last time (and in 2000). Vincent Jackson, if he can play this far into the season without getting suspended, won't make it easy this time.

Sun. Dec 30 - at Seattle, 3:15. Great, a redux of the miserable 2010 season finale and a close to the regular season in another stadium where the Rams rarely win.

The Rams need to make all the hay they can early in the season, when they've got three home games in four weeks, because I don't see a whole lot of wins after that. 5-6 wins looks like the high water mark to me.

-$-