Rams not looking ahead to tough stretch/Wagoner

Rams not looking ahead to tough stretch
By Nick Wagoner

http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-rams/post/_/id/12111/rams-not-looking-ahead-to-tough-stretch

EARTH CITY, Mo. — When the NFL first released the 2014 regular-season schedule in April, there was an eight-game stretch after the team’s Week 4 bye that looked to be among the toughest any team would face.

The bye is here and the Rams do not play Sunday, but when they return next week, nothing will come easy.

The eight games awaiting the Rams after the bye are, in order: at Philadelphia, home against San Francisco on “Monday Night Football,” home against Seattle, at Kansas City, at San Francisco, at Arizona, home against Denver and at San Diego.

For those keeping score at home, that’s a group comprised of seven games against 2013 playoff teams and the Cardinals, who finished last year 10-6 and are off to a 3-0 start this season. With the exception of Kansas City and San Francisco, all are off to good starts this season, though it can be hard to judge off just three games.

Even though the Rams are falling in line with the take-it-one-week-at-a-time cliché used around the league, they are aware of what’s coming next.

“We have to focus on Philly, we really do,” coach Jeff Fisher said. “None of that matters. We have to focus on Philly. But, yeah, when the schedule came out and you looked at it and you saw those consecutive weeks where there’s six, seven or eight against playoff teams and Arizona, who was 10-6 last year. But, one of those teams that we play after Philly is 1-2 right now. So, things change and you can’t dwell or spend too much time on the schedule. It really is a very simple process. It’s pay attention to who you’re playing next.”

Next up is an Eagles team that looks much different from most teams in the NFL, let alone the grind it out ethos of the Rams’ NFC West counterparts.

At 1-2, the Rams can’t afford to let things slip away from them; part of the reason it was important for them to fare better than 1-2 in the first three games. Since they didn’t, they’ll have to pull off some upsets over the back part of the schedule.

Of course, upsets shouldn’t be ruled out when it comes to the Rams. Last season, St. Louis went into Indianapolis and won in a blowout and pulled off home victories against the Chicago Bears and New Orleans Saints.

And the Rams have been particularly salty coming out of the bye in two years under Fisher. In 2012, they went to San Francisco and came away with a tie in a game that was there for the taking before blowing past Chicago last year.

“I know our next opponent is Philly and they’re a pretty good ballclub,” end Robert Quinn said. “We’ll get an early jump this week and try to get ready to get on to next week with a head start. We’ve got a tough schedule after the bye week but I think guys are ready for it. We have got our minds set already and where we’ve got to go to and make that push.”