The proverbial idea of a “Super Bowl preview” tends to be tossed about a bit loosely – after all, who amongst us had the Los Angeles Rams “hosting” the Cincinnati Bengals with the Lombardi Trophy at stake last February? It was a prompt pointer that any interconference match staged prior to Columbus Day certifies as, ahem, a Super Bowl sneakpeek.
But Thursday night’s kickoff videogame of the NFL’s 2022 routine season, pitting the Rams versus the Buffalo Bills, legally felt like a match – priorto the videogame anyhow – we may witness onceagain in Super Bowl57 So while, undoubtedly, Buffalo’s 31-10 stomping of LA is just the veryfirst of 284 videogames that will eventually identify who’s playing for rings early next year in Glendale, Arizona, the match felt a bit weightier as does its significance as the season’s inaugural match.
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With that mentioned, on to the next-level winners and losers:
WINNERS
Von Miller: Appears he chose the right horse, the two-time Super Bowl winner – traded from the Denver Broncos to the Rams midway through the 2021 season and showing rather the distinction maker for LA – looks like he may simply be the last piece to Buffalo’s Lombardi puzzle after choosing to indication with the Bills for 6 years and $120 million throughout the offseason. Miller tape-recorded 2 of Buffalo’s 7 sacks and definitely looks like the person who may’ve made all the distinction in the last 13 seconds of policy in the Bills’ heartbreaking overtime loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in last season’s divisional playoff round.
Josh Allen: Buffalo’s fifth-year quarterback wasn’t ideal in his 2022 launching, however he revealed why he’s a preferred to win league MVP honors. Allen linked on his veryfirst 10 passes on the method to 297 backyards and 3 TDs and ran for another rating while leading the group with 56 hurrying backyards. If he’s that excellent on opening night versus the group simply fitted for rings, frightening to believe how he may be travelling in a coupleof months.
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Buffalo’s title goals: The Bills won a set of AFL titles in 1964 and ’65, however the franchise is muchbetter understood for its 0-for-4 Super Bowl run from 1990-93. But they staked their claim as the group to beat Thursday, thumping the champs on the roadway, and may simply be the attire their cherished Mafia hasactually been waiting for all these years.
SoFi Stadium: The house of the Rams (and Chargers, sort of) hasactually endedupbeing every bit the crown gem display location owner Stan Kroenke and the league pictured when the franchise returned to Los Angeles 6 years earlier. The stars – and a set of elegant groups – were on screen for the 2022 NFL opener, simply as they were for the last videogame of the 2021 season, Super Bowl 56.
Odell Beckham: Neither gone nor forgotten, the free-agent wideout recuperating from the ACL tear he suffered while with the Rams in Super Bowl 56 was part of the celebratory environment priorto kickoff. Though he’s anonymous, the Rams have kept OBJ’s locker at their practice center … recommending he may be back ultimately.
Dwayne Johnson: The R