NFL schedulers disrespect the Los Angeles Rams with early schedule leak

If you want to revisit the best games from the 2025 NFL Playoffs, you'll want to save the Divisional Round between the Los Angeles Rams and the Philadelphia Eagles for the final match of that review. After all, it's only customary to save the best for last. Of all of the Eagles' postseason opponents, only the Rams played them to the final buzzer. Only the Rams were within one score of taking the lead and the victory from the Eagles. Only the Rams faced Mother Nature's worst in a snowstorm at Lincoln Financial Field.

It was the type of blockbuster that naturally screams for a sequel. The Rams vs. the Eagles: Round 2. It was built into the 2025 NFL Schedule. The Rams must travel to face the Eagles this season, as one of the nine road games on the team's schedule. NFL fans would have flocked to tune into the game, a Thursday Night Football season opener on September 4, 2024. Best of all, the Rams had already proven to be quite competitive early in the season by traveling to push the Detroit Lions into overtime.

Despite the natural appeal to fans worldwide, the NFL schedulers have chosen to pit the paltry Dallas Cowboys against the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles in that Thursday Night Football season opener.

And just like that, the NFL missed a golden opportunity to follow up the incredibly dramatic and thrilling playoff game with a 2025 season opener that would get NFL fans buzzing right out of the gate.

How 'bout them Cowboys?

Don't get me wrong. I understand the appeal to schedulers of putting the Dallas Cowboys in Lincoln Financial Field to take on the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles are the defending Super Bowl champions, while the Dallas Cowboys are their most hated rival in the NFC East Division. For that matter, many NFL fan bases hate the Cowboys, after years of overhyping them as Super Bowl contenders year after year.

But the Cowboys were not good in 2024, and there is little reason to expect them to put up much of a fight in 2025. Yes, they traded for WR George Pickens from the Pittsburgh Steelers. But one player does not move the needle far enough for the Cowboys. And of the two wide receivers on the move, I see Rams veteran WR Davante Adams as making a far greater impact in 2025. Plus, the Rams already have Pickens' superior in WR Puka Nacua. No brag. Just facts.

On Monday morning, news broke of the NFL's first regular season game on Thursday Night Football to begin the 2025 season. It was an expected leak, one of many to come in drips and drabs to flirt with NFL fans as old and new rivalries form for fans as scheduled games appear over the next several days.

Rumors and leaks are all part of the mastery of marketing that has become the greatest weapon of the NFL. This leak comes from ESPN Insider Adam Schefter, often the source of breaking rumors and news in the NFL. And yet, this early NFL schedule leak is a bit of a letdown for the Rams.

A Thursday Night Football game to open the season would be ideal for the Rams, a team that faces nine road games and eight home games. While a grueling travel game, it would embed an early mini-bye into the Rams' schedule early, allowing the team an advantage of inserting more rest days into the overall team schedule. Those early advantages can pay off in huge dividends late in the season.

The Rams are not the only team to be snubbed. The Detroit Lions and Washington Commanders both make compelling cases to open the season on the road against the Eagles. How 'bout them Cowboys? Color me unimpressed. It's just one more example of the NFL undeservingly promoting the Cowboys into a place of prominence. And that is one more reason for NFL fans to dislike the Dallas Cowboys, again.

As always, thanks for reading.

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