Buffalo Bills vs. Los Angeles Rams Thursday Night Football Betting Odds & Prediction

The first game of the 2022 NFL season pits the Buffalo Bills against the Los Angeles Rams on Thursday night. As per NFL tradition, the Rams will host this game at SoFi Stadium, the site of their Super Bowl triumph over the Cincinnati Bengals in February.

While the celebrations on opening night will be focused on the Rams, though, the Bills enter this contest as slight favorites as they look to prove that they should be the favorite to win the title this year.

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Buffalo Bills

Last season, the Buffalo Bills had an incredible season, which ended in the divisional round at the hands of the Kansas City Chiefs. In an overtime classic, the Bills lost the overtime coin toss and never saw the ball after Patrick Mahomes led a game-winning touchdown drive to end things. 

This year, the Bills will look to leave any big games out of the hands of a coin toss, starting with this week one matchup against the Rams.

One big question for the Bills going into this game, and the season as a whole, is what the running game is going to look like for them. Devin Singletary and Zack Moss have not been consistent threats on the ground over the last couple of years, prompting the team to draft James Cook to join them at running back.

While the Bills' passing attack has been good enough to offset their woes on the ground, a more well-balanced offense could help the Bills get over the hump.

Los Angeles Rams

The Los Angeles Rams were the last team to win a game in the NFL last season, winning Super Bowl LVI at home over the Cincinnati Bengals. 

They became just the second team to win the Super Bowl at their home stadium, with the Matthew Stafford trade paying off immediately for Los Angeles' NFC representatives.

Here, the Rams look to take advantage of playing in the first Thursday night game of the year at home, a spot that defending champions have done very well in historically.

For the Rams to cash in on this game at home, their defense will need to play one of the best games they will be asked to play this season.

While Aaron Donald and the defensive front of the Rams will be expected to contain the Bills' ground game, the secondary of the Rams will have its hands full against Josh Allen through the air. If the pass rush of the Rams can generate some consistent pressure to reduce Allen's time to throw downfield, that would be a massive plus for Los Angeles.

Keys To The Game

For the Bills, a huge key to this game is going to be what kind of defense we see from them. Buffalo finished first in the NFL in yards per play allowed last season but fell apart at the seams against the Chiefs the last time we saw them during the playoffs.

If the Bills cannot tighten things up on defense again, they could very well lose as a road favorite to kick off their 2022 campaign.

On the Rams' side, finding consistent yardage on the ground will be a key to this game. The duo of Matthew Stafford and Cooper Kupp will pick up where they left off last season, barring any sort of injuries this season.

But, it will be up to the duo of Cam Akers and Darrell Henderson to keep defenses off-balance by picking up consistent chunks of yardage on the ground.