2022 NFL season kickoff: Four things to watch for in Bills-Rams prime-time game

September 8, 2022 World Sports

The 2022 NFL season kicks off with a doozy: the Super Bowl-champion Rams hosting — in the stadium they won the big game back in February — the Bills, a rare road favorite against a reigning champ in a season opener. These are two championship-caliber squads going head to head in one of the more highly anticipated NFL Kickoff games in recent memory.

Matthew Stafford looks to repeat the magic he was able to dial up with Sean McVay from their first season together, leading to the first Super Bowl victory for each.

And that’s the formula the Bills are trying to summon this season, with one of the MVP favorites in Josh Allen fully amid his prime.

The Rams are 5-0 in season openers (outscoring their opponents by a combined 83 points) in the McVay era, as he attempts to become the first coach to win his first six Week 1 games since Mike Shanahan back in 1998. The Bills are 3-2 in openers under Sean McDermott, blowing a 10-point halftime lead a year ago in a loss to the Steelers at home.

The Bills led the NFL in both scoring and total defense in 2021. The Rams led the NFL in scoring and total defense in 2020. This is the first Week 1 matchup in the Super Bowl era between the teams that led the NFL in scoring and total defense in each of the last two seasons.

There are storylines everywhere in this game, and the talent level suggests we should buckle up for a potentially great one.