Rams must find success early in 2024, and it may depend on this young defense

When the LA Rams opened their 2023 NFL season, the team managed to travel to Seattle and defeat the Seahawks to open with a win. The team would fall to a 2-6 record over the next eight games, including losses to the Green Bay Packers, the Philadelphia Eagles, the Dallas Cowboys, and the San Francisco 49ers. All four teams ended up as rivals for the NFC seeding for the 2024 NFL Playoffs. And the Rams were winless against all four opponents.

Of course, it's a new season, and that wipes the slate clean for the team. Or, does it? If you have checked the LA Rams schedule for 2024, the team has a Week 6 BYE but faces five NFC teams in the first five games. By mid-October, the team could be in complete command of the NFC Division race for the NFL Playoffs, or be in a rather deep hole that will be awfully difficult to climb out of. How so? Well, check out the first five weeks on the schedule:

Week 1, Sept. 8: at Detroit Lions | 5:20 p.m. | NBC - Sunday Night Football
Week 2, Sept. 15: at Arizona Cardinals | 1:05 p.m. | FOX
Week 3, Sept. 22: San Francisco 49ers | 1:25 p.m. | FOX
Week 4, Sept. 29: at Chicago Bears | 10 a.m. | FOX
Week 5, Oct. 6: Green Bay Packers | 1:25 p.m. | CBS
Week 6: BYE

Or as Rams reporter J.B. Long has shared, the Rams face some of the best NFL offenses right out of the gate:

Another way of framing the caliber of the competition:
Bill Barnwell just released his annual skill group rankings. The Rams schedule includes games against teams ranked 1st (twice), 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th (twice).https://t.co/pK4VVV7xT2
— J.B. Long (@JB_Long) July 11, 2024

That's a tough way to open a season. It could ultimately become five offensive shootouts before this young defense gets a foothold. And that could be problematic for the team's plans for 2024.

Despite the team holding nine home games in their season, they open 2024 with two consecutive road games, and enter their early Week 6 BYE having already played three of their eight road games. That means that after their BYE, the Rams will have seven home games to just five more road games.

Perhaps the greatest challenge to this schedule is how quickly this team faces significant and meaningful opponents. The first five games of the season will play a huge part in setting up or diminishing the team's chances of holding a high seed in any NFL Playoffs matrix.

For a very young roster, that places a lot of pressure to get it right and get it right away.

Stay tuned. And as always, thanks for reading.

Schedule