When the Los Angeles Rams schedule came out earlier this spring, there were a few notable items that popped up right away. That ranges from their elongated travel responsibilities to a few different arduous stretches, among other details.
But as the offseason progresses, there’s one specific note that’s becoming increasingly frustrating: We have to wait until Christmas to see the Rams face the Seattle Seahawks.
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TST’s Evan Craig wrote about this back in May as part of a larger critique of the NFL’s schedule and how it handled some of this year’s marquee games. Along with his easily agreeable overall points, the way these fanbases have traded barbs this season make that long of a wait even more grating.
Rivalries are great for sports, and this one is certainly emerging as one of the fiercest currently going in the NFL. If you don’t believe me, go spend about 2 minutes on your social media channel of choice and you’ll find more than enough vitriol between the two teams’ supporters. And we’re not going to get any kind of payoff for that between now and the last Friday of the calendar year? Brutal.
Everyone credible around the NFL believes both the Rams and Seahawks are Super Bowl contenders, if not the two top contenders, this year. Wouldn’t it be a blast to see these two title threats duke it out any time before you’re utterly sick of “All I Want For Christmas Is You” for the year? It may be bad for your mental (and physical) health, but a chance to take shots at your biggest current rival for actual, on-field football reasons shouldn’t have to wait that long.
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There’s also, of course, the risk of something going sideways between the start of the year and when these teams finally meet. An unfortunate injury or whatever else leaves you with too much “What If?” for my liking.
This isn’t to say no important games should be played late, that’s obviously asinine. But from the perspective of simply wanting to watch great, emotionally fueled football, it feels unfair to have to wait so long for this particular meeting. Plus, the NFL has had more and more of these two meetings in three weeks arrangements across the schedule in recent years, and it hasn’t gotten more palatable during that time.
The offseason is long. Brutally long. It would certainly make it a little easier to stomach the wait if we knew this titanic clash was coming in 16 or so weeks instead of nearly 25.
