Mackeyser said:

Well, I disagree 'bout Suh, but I'll leave it at that.

That said, I think all three of our DL demand double teams. Team typically double Brockers because if he's left one on one, he tends to win. No OL will have enough to block our three down linemen let alone whichever LB or CB comes and typically Wade sends 4 or 5.

Based on how the pieces seem to fit together, from a pattern perspective, this defense has all the pieces to be historically good.

The biggest noticeable piece will clearly be Brandin Cooks. The D will be there, but teams are going to have to decide to run (and you can't run outside all day) against Brockers, Suh, and Donald or they throw against Talib, Peters, Johnson and Joyner and neither is going to be easy or fun.

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I can't remember ever being more excited to see a defense take the field, and I absolutely expect the offense to be even better this year with Cooks.

That was just one play Den. TB was clueless about line play calls and identifying blitz schemes. His pass blocking was so bad there was no way Rams qb's could run 7 step drop pass plays.
Gurley had to fight off opposing D for the hand off on running plays half the time.

I blame a lot of the OL troubles on Fisher. Saffold was the only OL with much experience and the rest were clueless and got constantly "schooled". Having no vet experience on the OL was just plain stupid.

Now the Rams have a good mix of seasoned veterans and youth and field one of the best OLines in the NFL. After this years draft and drafting one or two more OL next year the future looks good for the Rams OL.

Memento said:

Let's not forget Brian Allen either. I hope that all of those linemen are diamonds in the rough.

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Yeah I was really happy we directly addressed OL as a priority in the draft.

den-the-coach said:

FWIW's Dennis "Hercules" Harrah might be my favorite all time Ram if for nothing else because of his first name and @jakebogen95 should try to get him as a guest, that would be truly special.

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Herc was the best. I think he should be considered Hall of Fame material. When I did our position rankings a couple years back, I had Harrah ranked #2, only behind Tom Mack in all time guards. Even that is debatable.

So since the Rams don't have a 2nd next year, they would have had to use a first to get Beal.

Kevin said:

Mack, a thoughtful and well-written response as always. How are you? There is a house for sale in my neighborhood. You and the family could move in and be just a few doors down from George and Jamie Edwards, the Vikings Defensive Coordinator! Seriously, they are renting the house next door to us; I chatted with them at a garage sale last Saturday. Very nice people. he thinks very highly of Todd Gurley and what the Rams have done on defense this offseason.

I think fully autonomous electric vehicles will have no more than a niche in the transportation system for the foreseeable future, and I mean for decades to come. Too many costly obstacles that need to be addressed by governments at all levels. Check out this article from a few years ago. Personal rapid transit was thought to be the cutting edge of public transportation, but there were too many issues for it to be anything more than a novelty. https://www.citylab.com/life/2014/0...sit-is-probably-never-going-to-happen/380467/

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Well, the move to Minny is off, but thanks for thinking of me.

I agree that pods on rails probably isn’t going to be the future, but fully autonomous electric vehicles are already here and in our environment.

People thought VCRs would be a niche market.

AT&T famously commissioned a study in 1980 by McKinsey and Co about cell phone adoption by the year 2000. They guessed 900k. The actual number was 109M.

The conventional wisdom was that HD streaming wouldn’t be a thing because there wasn’t enough broadband capacity. Now, we’re seeing the death of physical media like CDs, DVD and even Blu-Ray.

The list is long of the tech that people couldn’t envision changing everything only to look back and realize that once the tech is adopted, people can’t imagine being without it.

I mean once you could get kids movies on VCR, what parent wanted to take their young kids to the movies? Once cell phones became affordable, who wanted to keep a pocket of change and grab a public phone handle the that likely had urine and tetanus on it?

I don’t know exactly what it will look like, but nothing will look the same in 20 years just like nothing looks the same as it did in 1998. Some things remain similar and others look radically different even if one discounts hair styles and fashion.

Oh and it’s a fun conversation.

CGI_Ram said:

Yeah, exactly. He’s been a really good rotational player.

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Not bad for a guy that former DL Coach Mike Waufle threw wads of paper at to wake him up.

jakebogen95 said:

Man, I appreciate and look forward to every comment you put out after listening. You are so knowledgeable I feel like I learn something every post!

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"ahem!" ~LoyalRam

Gazarri's on the strip :mrburnsevil:

He moved to Canada.

Mackeyser said:

That's the hope. I wouldn't mind Cleveland winning one during the Rams' dynasty that's coming.

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You are not hating enough, Mac!

read:http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...om&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=editorial

Football Strategies so Zany They Just Might Work in the NFL

Pro sports teams usually have good reasons not to think too far outside the box.

Take the NBA champion/soon-to-be Planetary Overlord Golden State Warriors, for example. Reddit poster danmaker99 asked during the NBA Finals why four Warriors teammates don't simply join hands and create a personal barrier around Stephen Curry whenever he approaches the three-point line. Curry would get a clean look every time, unless opponents fouled themselves into free-throw Armageddon trying to get close to him.

There's certainly a sound basketball reason not to attempt this tactic. I don't know what that reason is, because I don't cover basketball and am too lazy to research it, but that reason surely exists.

In the NFL, there are plenty of wacky fan theories and thought experiments that work well on paper, on the playground or in Madden but have no place on a real football field. Or do they? Some "Ring Around the Curry" theories are worth exploring, if only to make sure coaches and execs aren't overlooking a potential game-winning tactic just because they are afraid the other coaches and execs will laugh at them.

Here are some NFL pet theories you have surely seen at the bottom of comment threads or heard in the bar around closing time. Are they foolproof? Absolutely not. Would they work? Sometimes. Would it be fun to see some teams try them a little more often? Absolutely.

Penalties on purpose

You may remember that Clemson upset Alabama in the 2017 National Championship Game with a goal-line touchdown pass in the final seconds. With Alabama up by three before that fateful play, Nick Saban should have ordered all of his defenders to commit blatant holding penalties. The fouls would have awarded Clemson half the distance to the goal line and a first down, two booby prizes for a team already in scoring position in the final seconds. But the blatant penalties would have burnt the final seconds of the game, forcing Clemson to choose between an overtime-forcing field goal or one final all-or-nothing shot at the end zone.

As Chris Brown and his readers later reported at SmartFootball.com, former Eagles head coach Buddy Ryan's playbook contained multiple "penalty on purpose" plays. He called his goal-line tactic "Polish Goalline," because Ryan was from the era when ethnic stereotypes were considered fun sitcom fare.

Ryan's scheme deployed three additional, and illegal, defenders, whose purpose was to stop the opponent from scoring, as well as to run the clock down to the point where the offense would have time for one more play at most. Ryan employed the strategy for a punt against the Vikings in 1989, again with the goal to burn a few seconds late in the game. Shockingly, the refs didn't throw the flag; they were probably investigating whether Ryan put a bounty on the opponent's kicker or something.

In the NCAA, refs can award a touchdown after multiple intentional fouls at the goal line, but they cannot do it for the first one. So Saban presumably didn't opt to take a page out of Ryan's problematic goal-line playbook because he felt it violated some football Man Law.

As we'll see, some useful/innovative/fun strategies are never used in big-time football, not because they don't work but because no one in the football fraternity wants to stray too far from the herd.

Sumo wrestlers and shot-blockers

The Eagles drafted 6'8", 346-pound Australian rugby star Jordan Mailata in April and are teaching him to play offensive tackle this year, even though Mailata never wore a helmet in his life before deciding to give the NFL a go.

So why hasn't any NFL team recruited a sumo wrestling yokozuna yet? Former sumo champion Yamamotoyama Ryuta is 6'3", weighed 584 pounds at his peak and was a master of using short-burst quickness and leverage to his advantage. Heck, Ryuta is currently retired from sumo and only 34 years old. Bring him to America and give him a Vince Wilfork role on short yardage plays! Even line him up at guard for 4th-and-1 quarterback sneaks!

After signing a sumo, some enterprising NFL team should also search the globe for the type of 7-plus-footers who wind up in the NBA as backup centers. Find a Manute Bol-sized beanpole, use him to block long field goals and stand him in the middle of the field with his hands up against Drew Brees or Russell Wilson on 3rd-and-long. Then, feed the 7-footer some end-zone fades on offense, or line him up on goal-line defense in whichever corner of the end zone Julio Jones is heading for.

Worried about some ornery center snapping that shot-blocking twig in half? Line the sumo wrestler up right in front of him!

NFL teams used to be more creative about drafting Olympic sprinters or trying out Andre the Giant types, if only as publicity stunts. But such players are rarely good at "real football," which means lining up for 60 snaps per game, which is something no one does anymore. A 500-pound goal-line specialist or a Dikembe Mutombo type who blocks two 3rd-and-long passes per game would be worth more than the eighth defensive back who plays on the kick coverage unit. But conventional wisdom is king in the NFL. And the top sumo champions probably aren't interested, anyway.

The all-QB draft

This is a favorite thought experiment among draft hipsters every March and April: If quarterbacks are so valuable, why not draft one in every single round, pit them against each other in a Hunger Games-style training camp competition and drastically increase your odds of discovering the next Tom Brady?

The draft speculators who argue this point seriously have never attended a real NFL practice or training camp. Young quarterbacks are like baby pandas, and there are only so many bamboo shoots to go around. There aren't enough meaningful reps to develop or evaluate the fourth quarterback on a depth chart—who typically only gets a series or two of seven-on-sevens per practice with the future gym teachers and Saskatchewan Roughriders he's playing with—let alone a sixth or seventh option.

OK, so drafting quarterbacks in Rounds 1-7 would be a bit much. But say a team has three seventh-round picks, which often happens. Why not draft three quarterbacks instead of the usual assortment of special-teams hopefuls? Send them to some corner of the practice facility with an assistant coach, or lock them in a film room throughout OTAs. Give them each a quarter in the first two preseason games. Make the winner of the competition the third-stringer, give the runner-up a set of steak knives and a spot on the practice squad, and cut the bronze medalist.

The main reason the NFL doesn't do this is because no team has ever created the infrastructure for an annual seventh-rounder quarterback clinic. In other words, no one has tried it because no one has tried it. The first team to dare to be different may not unearth a Tom Brady every year, but that would increase its odds of finding Case Keenum while becoming a steady source of AJ McCarron types to be used as trade barter. Like most of these pet strategies, it's at least worth trying once in a while.

The Cover-11 defense

No matter how many defenders rush the quarterback, the rulebook requires the five offensive linemen to stand around and wait for the ball to cross the line of scrimmage. So why rush any defenders at all on 3rd-and-long? Drop all 11 of them into coverage! Triple-team Antonio Brown! Flood every zone on the field! Clog every available passing lane!

If you are worried about the quarterback sneaking for 10-15 yards behind a barricade of linemen, leave one Aaron Donald/Fletcher Cox type to gum up the middle and dissuade Tom Brady or Drew Brees from showing off his wheels. But why risk a roughing-the-passer penalty against the likes of Brady and Brees (who are not rattled by the pass rush anyway) when you can take all of their options away with the ultimate four-deep, six-under zone defense?

A 10-man zone defense could also limit scramblers like Cam Newton to short gains, because lots of quick defenders end up loitering in underneath zones, ready to converge on anyone who tries to be sneaky. (The Rams used a similar tactic in the playoffs against Randall Cunningham 30 years ago.) And a 0-4-7 defense would blow the mind of a rookie quarterback or the Brock Osweiler-Mike Glennon types who keep getting jobs (and, again, won't run for any first downs).

According to the data compiled by Sports Info Solutions, teams rushed just one defender on 17 passing plays last year, many of them Hail Mary's or 4th-and-20 situations. A few teams, including the Patriots, tinkered with a two-man rush on non-desperate downs. All it takes is one daring defensive coordinator to shock the offense by rushing nobody. Then, we can all stare in awe and wonder as the Seahawks offensive line still somehow gives up a sack.

Madden punt-block pass rush

While we're giving playground and video game tactics their due, why not visit that classic Madden standby: using the "punt block" play as the ultimate blitz package? Cram 10 defenders onto the line of scrimmage with one deep safety, and then see if the quarterback dares to try anything!

This is not a tactic for use against Brady or Brees; they would cackle with laughter before throwing quick slants that go for 40-yard gains. But again, the NFL is full of Osweiler, Glennon, Trevor Siemian and Nathan Peterman types, plus rookies likely to react like dogs at a fireworks display if they see 10 defenders ready to blitz. Show them a punt-block unit on 3rd-and-10 now and then, and they will at least burn all their timeouts.

For added fun: Show 10 pass-rushers, and then drop all of them into coverage as soon as the quarterback uncorks a desperate wobbler.

More hooks, more laterals

Search YouTube for hook-and-lateral plays, and the first thing that pops up is a legendary Dolphins touchdown from 1981. Next, you get Boise State in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl. After that, you get a mix of high school highlights, last-play-of-the-game silliness and feats of Randy Moss that aren't hook-and-laterals but are still pretty awesome. There are some hook-and-lateral heroics that are hard to find on the internet, like Tiki Barber's almost-touchdown against the Eagles in 2001, but not many—you can count NFL history's great hook-and-lateral moments on one hand.

The hook-and-lateral is a trick play teams should run three or four times per year. Instead, they run it about three or four times per century, at most. Coaches fear a fumble on the play, of course. Have you ever seen a fumbled hook and lateral? Of course not. You practically have to be over 40 or a college film junkie to have even seen a hook-and-lateral!

Imagine it's 3rd-and-10. The quarterback does what quarterbacks often do in that situation: He throws a limp, little eight-yard pass. But then Odell Beckham or Tyreek Hill sprints behind the receiver at full gallop, takes the lateral and keeps on going. If a team did that twice early in the season, opposing defenders would begin looking for Beckham, Hill (or Alvin Kamara, Tarik Cohen, etc.) after every short completion to another receiver. That would result in more yards after the catch for those other receivers. A win-win for the offense!

Like most of the tactics we've explored, the hook-and-lateral is a victim of inside-the-box football thinking. No coaches want to be the first in recorded history to lose a game on a hook-and-lateral gone wrong (or because 11-man coverage failed, or the sumo wrestler somehow ended up in man coverage against Antonio Brown), so they miss out on the opportunity to win lots of games by being unorthodox.

Activate the 12th man

Former Steelers coach Bill Cowher stepped onto the field and nearly clocked a Jaguars defender returning a blocked field goal for a touchdown in 1997. Cowher contained himself, making for a funny tough-guy moment with no impact on the play or game.

But what if he hadn't?

Imagine some Cowher or Buddy Ryan type assigning a third-string safety the role of coming off the sideline to make an emergency, game-saving tackle. Imagine if something like that happened in last year's Vikings-Saints playoff matchup: Stefon Diggs eludes the Saints secondary, only to get tackled by Scrubby McScrubbington, who wasn't even in the game, at the 2-yard line.

Such a play would be so illegal that fines and suspensions would surely result. But again, we're talking about a playoff game. Would the NFL dare overturn a result? What if the Patriots were involved? Could America withstand such a ruling?

Something like this actually happened in the AFL in 1961. A fan ran onto the field during a last-ditch goal-line play as the Dallas Texans tried to beat the Boston Patriots. This fan, wearing a trench coat, according to legend (it doesn't look like a trench coat on film), possessed the 1960s equivalent of a 99 awareness rating in Madden, so he flowed with the motion of the play and broke up the pass.

Was this "fan" really a fan? Urban legend claimed it was former Patriots owner Billy Sullivan, whose trench coats were the Bryan Colangelo collars of the era. But perhaps it was a costumed backup safety. Or a time-traveling Mark Wahlberg. Just don't blame Bill Belichick; he was only nine years old.

No matter who it was, 12th-man tactics, unlike some of the other strategies we've explored, are best left behind in the Leave It to Beaver era. There's a big difference between holding on purpose and letting randos scurry onto the field. Some tactics are so silly that they harm the integrity of the game. Even if they result in a win.

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/...t-cardinals-facing-nightmare-49ers-look-good/

2018 NFL schedule rankings, NFC West: Cardinals facing nightmare, 49ers look good

The 2018 season seems like a perfect time for the 49ers to end their four-year playoff drought with two big advantages over the other teams in their division: They have a quarterback who has never lost and they're going to play the easiest schedule in the NFC West.

With the regular season still more than two months away, you might be wondering how we already know that the 49ers have the easiest schedule in the division, and that's because we devised a formula to rank all 32 schedules in the NFL.

Back in February, we ranked each team's 2018 schedule using strength of schedule, but that's not exactly the most efficient way to rate schedule difficulty. To fix that, we've devised a formula that gives a more accurate look at what each team will be facing during the upcoming season.

To devise our formula, we started by going through each individual game on each team's schedule and ranked it based on difficulty. Here's a quick example of how that works: Although all four teams in the NFC West will play the Packers this year, not all the games are rated equally.

For instance, the Rams will get the Packers at home in October, while the Cardinalswill get them on the road in December. Although the strength of schedule formula counts both games the same, we don't. Under our formula, the Cardinals have it tougher because they're a dome-team that has to go to Lambeau Field in December, where it's almost impossible to win. Aaron Rodgers is 10-0 in his last 10 December home games.

On the other hand, the Rams get to skip out on a trip to Lambeau because they'll be hosting the Packers in Los Angeles.

For the second part of our formula, we looked at Super Bowl odds. Since the oddsmakers in Las Vegas seem to know what they're doing, we incorporated their odds. The six NFC teams with the best Super Bowl odds right now are the Eagles, Rams, Vikings, Packers, Falcons and Saints, and unfortunately for the Cardinals, they have to play four of those teams on the road. That's a big reason why the Cardinals have the toughest schedule in their division and second-toughest schedule in the NFC under our formula.

One final thing we used to tabulate this formula is the first three games of the season. We weighted those three games slightly more than the other 13 games because they tend to be a good indication of how a team will play throughout the season. Basically, teams that go winless in their first three games almost never make the playoffs.

Since 1990, only three teams have started 0-3 and made the playoffs (1992 Chargers, 1995 Lions, 1998 Bills).

On the flip side of that, 3-0 usually means good things in the NFL: From 1990 to 2010, 75.9 percent of the teams that started 3-0 made the playoffs. Those odds drop to 54.9 percent for 2-1 teams and 23.3 percent for 1-2 teams.

You can look at last year's playoff field as proof of how important the first few games are: Of the 12 teams that made the postseason, only the Saints (1-2) didn't have a winning record through the first three weeks of the season. The other 11 teams started the year either 2-1 or 3-0.

This basically means that if your favorite team has a murderer's row in the first three weeks of the season, you should probably just give up on 2018 and start paying attention to 2019.

By the way, the reason we're not giving the final three games of the season more weight is because the final games don't always mean the same for everybody, especially when a team is resting its starters. The Saints went 0-3 in their final three games in 2009 and still won the Super Bowl. The Ravens went 1-2 in their final three in 2012 and also won the Super Bowl.

Finally, one thing to keep in mind here is that we use the term "easy" very loosely when talking about the NFC West. Although the 49ers have the "easiest" schedule in the division using our formula, it's not that easy compared to teams in the NFL's other conference. If San Francisco was in the AFC, it would have the second-toughest schedule in the entire conference, behind only the Chiefs.

Alright, that's enough rambling, let's get to these rankings.

Wait, one more thing, if you're interested in checking out the schedule rankings for every other team in the NFL, you can do that right now. For the AFC, just click through on your favorite division here: AFC East, AFC South, AFC North and AFC West.

For the NFC, you can check out the schedule rankings by clicking on each division here: NFC East, NFC South and NFC North. The full schedule rankings of all 32 teams will be released later this month.

Ranking the NFC West schedules

4. San Francisco 49ers
Schedule difficulty rating: 96.25

Easiest stretch: Any time you get to play four straight games against teams that didn't have a winning record last season, that qualifies as your easiest stretch and that's exactly what the 49ers will be getting halfway through the season. Starting in Week 8, the 49ers will hit a very winnable stretch that includes a game at Arizona, followed by consecutive home games against the Raiders and Giants, before heading to Tampa for an away game in Week 12. The good news for the 49ers is that they get a bye before facing Tampa, which means they'll get an extra week to try and figure out how to win a game in the Eastern time zone. As you'll read about in our weird notes section, the 49ers have had some trouble playing in that time zone over the past few years.

Roughest stretch: The 49ers are the only team in the NFL that will open their season with four straight games against teams that finished with a winning record last year. Not only do the 49ers have to deal with that fact, but three of those four games will be played on the road (at Minnesota, Detroit, at Kansas City, at L.A. Chargers). Although that's a brutal gauntlet of games for the 49ers, they did catch one break: They'll get to face two quarterbacks who might not be fully adjusted to their new teams. The game in Minnesota will mark Kirk Cousins' first start with the Vikings and it wouldn't be a surprise to see him struggle a little bit. In Week 3, Patrick Mahomeswill be making the first home start of his career with the Chiefs, and it wouldn't be shocking at all if he had a few jitters going into that game.

Weird scheduling note: The 49ers only have one game in the Eastern time zone this year, which is good news for them, because they've been terrible over the past few years when they have to fly across the country. Since the beginning of the 2015 season, the 49ers are 0-11 in the Eastern time zone and the only shot they'll get to end that streak this year will come in Week 12 against Tampa Bay.

3. Seattle Seahawks
Schedule difficulty rating: 97.25

Easiest stretch: When you open your season with three of your first four games on the road, that's not usually considered an easy stretch, but with the Seahawks, that's exactly the case for 2018. Although Seattle will only get one home game during the first month of the season, there is some good news in there for the team: All three road games are very winnable. Starting in Week 1, the Seahawks travel to Denver, before moving on to Chicago for a Monday night Week 2 game against the Bears. After that, the Seahawks will finally get to have a home opener, when they host the Cowboys in Week 3 (The Seahawks are one of just three teams in the NFL -- along with the Chiefs and Texans -- that don't get to play their first home game until Week 3). After facing the Cowboys, the Seahawks will close out their season-opening road show in Week 4 with a game in Arizona. The upside of starting the season on the road is that the Seahawks will get to play four of their final five games of the season at home.

Roughest stretch: After watching Russell Wilson spend most of the 2017 season running for his life, the Seahawks better have this offensive line thing figured out by Week 10 this year or things could get ugly. Starting that week, the Seahawks will face a brutal five-game stretch — at L.A. Rams, Green Bay, at Carolina, San Francisco, Minnesota — where they'll see some of the top defenses in the NFL. Although the Panthers and Vikings fielded a top-10 defense last season, Wilson might want to worry more about the Panthers and Rams, the two teams that led the NFC in sacks last year.

Weird scheduling note: If you're looking for a team that might be able to make a late season playoff push, then make sure you keep the Seahawks in mind later this year. Of the five games that Seattle will be playing in December, four of them will be at home. The Seahawks are one of just two teams in the NFL -- along with the Titans -- that will get to close the season with four home games over the final five weeks.

2. Los Angeles Rams
Schedule difficulty rating: 98.50

Easiest stretch: If the NFL was smart, it would have settled the Los Angeles situation on the field and had the team play for the right to move to the city. Of course, I'm only mentioning that, because this year would have been the perfect year to do it. The Rams easiest stretch of the season is basically a "Loser leaves Los Angeles Round Robin" that will run from Week 1 thru 3. The Rams open with one team that originally wanted to move to L.A. (the Raiders), then play the Cardinals, before hosting their cohorts in L.A. (the Chargers). The advantage here for the Rams is that they'll be getting Jon Gruden, who just took 10 years off. If you've ever taken 10 years off of anything, then you probably already know that things can be a little dicey when you return. In Week 2, the Rams will get a Cardinals team that will have a new quarterback (Josh Rosen or Sam Bradford). In Week 3, we're going to get an all-out battle of Los Angeles and you can bet Rams owner Stan Kroenke will have Sean McVay utilize every trick in the playbook to beat the Chargers.

Roughest stretch: Facing Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees and Russell Wilson in the same season is tough enough, but facing them in consecutive weeks is even worse and that's exactly what the Rams are going to have to do midway through the season. Starting in Week 8, the Rams have a rough stretch where they'll play the Packers, Saints and Seahawks in a row. The only upside for the Rams is that two of those games will be played at home (Green Bay, Seattle). Making things rougher is that the Rams won't exactly get a breather after this stretch is over. After playing the Seahawks in Week 10, the Rams have to fly to Mexico City to face the Chiefs. The Rams will also go through an interesting stretch where they'll only play one game in Los Angeles over a month and a half period (Nov. 12 thru Dec. 29).

Weird scheduling note: The Rams will be joining the Saints and Ravens as the only teams in the NFL to play three straight road games this year. To give you an idea of why that's a bad thing for those three teams, consider this: Between 1990 and 2017, there have been 138 instances where a team had to play three straight road games and of those 138 road trips, the visiting team came away with a winning record (3-0 or 2-1) only 35.5 percent of the time (49 times).

That means that on 64.5 percent of those road trips (or 89 times), the visiting team either went 1-2 or 0-3. Teams have actually gone 0-3 (25 times) on three-game road trips more than twice as often as they've gone 3-0 (10). None of this is good news for the Rams, who will be hitting the road for a three-game trip starting in Week 5.

1. Arizona Cardinals
Schedule difficulty rating: 105.75

Easiest stretch: The Cardinals get their easiest stretch starting in Week 1, when they host the Redskins. After that, they get two of their next three games at home (at L.A. Rams, Chicago, Seattle). One important thing to keep in mind here is that we're only calling this an "easy" stretch because the Cards get to play three of the four games at home. The Cards don't really have an easy stretch, which is probably why their schedule was ranked the second most difficult in the NFL, behind only the Giants. This is definitely the kind of schedule you don't want when you have a first-year coach and a starting quarterback who's never taken a regular season snap in your team's uniform.

Roughest stretch: The Cardinals schedule is so stacked this year that more than one-third of it is part of the team's roughest stretch. Starting in Week 12, the Cardinals will play six straight games against teams that finished the 2017 season with a winning record and four of those six games will be on the road (at L.A. Chargers, at Green Bay, Detroit, at Atlanta, at L.A. Rams, Seattle). Oddsmakers in Vegas don't really like the Cards chances of winning any of these games. When the opening spreads were released in April, the Cards were an underdog of seven points or more in three of those games and only favored to win one (Lions).

Weird scheduling note: A big reason the Cardinals ended up with the second most difficult schedule in the NFL is because of their nightmarish road slate. Of the eight road games that Arizona will be playing this season, six of them will come against teams that finished 2017 with a winning record (Rams, Seahawks Vikings, Falcons, Chiefs, Chargers). To put that in perspective, the Rams and Seahawks only have three road games against teams that finished with a winning record in 2017, while the 49ers have five. Oh, and the Cards also have a road game against the Packers, who aren't even included on the above list since they finished 7-9 last season. This is all bad news for a team that's gone 3-5 on the road in each of the past two seasons.

I'd bet on the Patriots. If this really is Belichick's last season with them, then I expect him to cheat more than ever, on his way out. He needs to ensure one more SB title. He would be walking away, so he won't care about possible consequences.

dieterbrock said:

Any pitchers available?

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Not really. Wacha is out with an injury. Carlos Martinez was injured early in the season with a lat strain. Alex Reyes and Wainwright are on the 60 day DL.

We really can't afford to trade any starters, and all of the pitchers in the bullpen - Jordan Hicks aside - are probably worse than yours, and we're not trading Hicks.

Ramit said:

Where is @LACHAMP46 when you need him?

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Maybe he joined an eagles forum.. .

What's your problem Goff? Are you wasted? Dammit, follow my fingers with your eyes only! All right, you're ok. Just listen up from now on!

IowaRam said:

Today's generation will never experience the joy of playing with the phone cord while talking on the phone

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Or tripping over the kitchen cord that was so long and stretched out that it formed a pile under the phone...

You always knew someone tripped on it because someone was swearing in the kitchen...LOL.

snackdaddy said:

I'd like to comment but I'm still trying to figure out which one McEvoy is. :huh:

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He's 19. The one that looked to be blocking instead of trying to tackle lol

Hopefully Darrell Williams can make himself into a good swing tackle this year. It seems to be his last opportunity with the infusion of new talent, especially Joseph Noteboom.

Soul Surfer said:

Yeah, the choice of Everett was an odd one and a bit of a reach in my opinion.

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It wouldn't shock me if one of the linebackers made the pro bowl, especially one of the OLB. With that DL in front of them, somebody could break out - an OLB could end up with double digit sacks, or maybe Barron ends up cleaning up so many runners who make it past the line that he gets recognized, or the Rams' defense ends up being #1, and Littleton gets recognition for calling the plays while stopping the run.

DaveFan'51 said:

I don't think, besides Les Richter, the Rams EVER had a better MLB

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DaveFan'51 said:

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London Fletcher. The Ironman.

But man the unis in that pic are fucking great. LOVE them second to the jerseys with the horny should details.