What Sean McVay looks for when Rams’ schedule is released

It was a little while ago, but Sean McVay completed an interview with Jamie Maggio where he broke down what he looks for come schedule release time. He claims it’s not too compliacted as he simply starts by looking at who the team plays in Week One, followed by looking at the team’s bye week and Thursday night games.

McVay reflected every year is tough regardless of the opponents, “I don’t know that I’ve ever been part of an easy schedule”, so his approach at this point is to look for extended breaks for his team such as bye weeks and Thursday night games. Many franchises consider the time after Thursday night games “mini-byes” as squads get an extended break following your Thursday night matchup.

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Of course, this season the Rams will be playing on the first ever pre-Thanksgiving Wednesday night game against the Green Bay Packers. Perhaps that matchup will give McVay something new to consider going forward.

McVay on reviewing the schedule when it breaks:

“What I look at is who are we opening with?…We already kinda knew that we were going to Australia playing the 49ers so that little bit of buzz that comes out when you release the schedule was down. Then I’m looking at, alright, where are our Thursday night games? Where’s our bye (week)?…all things being equal do you like being able to play in a normal one 0’clock window? Yah you like that, but that’s not what the schedule makers had for us.”

One big takeaway for the schedule is that the Rams play the Seattle Seahawks in week 16 and 18. McVay didn’t comment on those matchups directly, but it can be assumed McVay is aware of those games as they could decide the winner of the NFC West and potentially the conference.

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On some level McVay likely doesn’t care which teams the Rams play and when. Whereas fans have to plan to be at certain games or watch them around their own busy schedules, McVay will be at all the games. His main concerns aren’t when opponents are played per se, but rather who are the Rams playing to start the season? When is each game in terms of what day of the week? And when will the team have down time?

There is likely more to the schedule release for the Rams than McVay is letting on, but if you take him at face value, he is giving you an inside look at what him and likely many other teams and coaches around the league focus on when their schedules are revealed.

Considering how uptight teams can be around sharing any information, including how they approach their schedule release (and their schedule release videos), McVay seemed to provide a fairly educational response.

So, the next time the schedule is coming out for the Rams, keep in mind to look at the Week 1 opponent first, the bye week and the Thursday night games, and you’ll be reviewing the latest Rams schedule just like McVay.