The NFL is releasing the complete 2022 schedule this week, but specific games will be announced ahead of Thursday night’s prime-time release show. As the Super Bowl champions, the Los Angeles Rams will have the honor of hosting the first game of next season, a Thursday night showdown at SoFi Stadium.
What we don’t yet know is who the Rams will host in that game to kick off the year. Looking at their home opponents, there are a lot of logical candidates to face Los Angeles. The Cardinals or 49ers would make sense, being division rivals. The Cowboys always draw huge ratings, and they’ve developed a little bit of a rivalry with the Rams in recent years.
The Raiders, Broncos and Bills would also be great matchups after the offseasons each team had. Vegas added Davante Adams, the Broncos traded for Russell Wilson and the Bills signed Von Miller to their already-Super Bowl-caliber roster.
Of all those teams, however, the Broncos would make the most sense.
The NFL typically doesn’t use divisional matchups for the season opener, which could rule out all of the NFC West teams. The Cowboys just faced the Bucs in the opener last year, and the NFL can save Rams-Cowboys for a Sunday afternoon game later in the season to get a ratings spike.
The Bills are already playing on Monday Night Football in Week 2, so playing in the season opener would give them an 11-day break between Week 1 and 2.
That leaves the Broncos and Raiders, but it’s Denver that offers the best storyline.
It would be Wilson’s first game with the Broncos, and he’d get to face his former rival in the NFC West to kick things off. While the Broncos are expected to be contenders, it would favor the Rams a bit to get them in Week 1 when Wilson is still building chemistry with his teammates in Denver.
It almost makes too much sense not to happen, which is why I would guess that Rams-Broncos is the pick for the season opener – especially after learning Buffalo will be on Monday Night Football in…