Rams Have Pivotal Matchups to Kick Off 2025 Season

The Los Angeles Rams schedule has been out for a while now, and with that, plenty of speculation on how each of their matchups next season will go. 2025 is a year with massive expectations for the Rams, after just coming short in the playoffs against the eventual Super Bowl champions, the Philadelphia Eagles.

If the Rams truly want to bridge the gap between them and the Eagles, they cannot afford to start off the season slow like they did last year. It was a race down the stretch of the season between them and their divisional rival, the Seattle Seahawks, to see who would win the division and who would make the playoffs.

Luckily, the Rams won the division despite them having the same record, but now the Seahawks aren't their biggest worries. The San Francisco 49ers have seen much success in the NFC West in the past couple of years, and last year they were ravaged by injuries, which caused their season to be derailed.

In 2025, they'll be looking to bounce back and become a competitive team again, which only spells trouble for the Rams as they are looking to win the NFC West for a second year in a row. All of this pressure and expectations go into why their week one matchup against the Houston Texans is so important.

They start the season off at home, which contributes to one of their biggest advantages next season. Stu Jackson is a senior staff writer for therams.com, and he breaks down what to look out for in their matchup.

"Who knows what the Texans' remade offensive line could look like between now and early September, but the interior of that front was not addressed in the draft after being identified as a major need by several analysts.

They signed veteran Laken Tomlinson to a one-year deal in free agency, but most experts don't view the problem as adequately solved. Now, connect this with a Rams defensive line that finished in the top 10 in pressure rate (35.6%) in 2024, according to Next Gen Stats, and added veteran defensive tackle Poona Ford".

The Rams are looking to get a win to start out their season, and their young defensive stars will have to step up in order for that to happen. This will be Jared Verse's first game of the new season after winning the defensive rookie of the year award. He'll be looking to make a statement, and I'd expect a big game out of him.