Thursday Night Football, Week 1: Bills vs. Rams - Prediction

The NFL season kicks off tonight with the Buffalo Bills taking on the Los Angeles Rams! The Rams are the defending Super Bowl Champions, which means they earn the honor of hosting the season’s opening game. However, it’s the Bills who many are predicting to be this year’s favorites for the Lombardi trophy. Von Miller is the big addition that the Bills made this offseason, which is also a subtraction from the Rams (for the short time they had him). Buffalo will face one big question at cornerback, though, since Tre’Davious White was placed on the PUP list, and a pair of rookies will try to fill in for him.

The Rams mortgaged the farm for a couple of years to make the type of Super Bowl run they did in 2021, and that meant they had to part ways this offseason with players like Miller, NT Sebastian Joseph-Day, RG Austin Corbett, WR Robert Woods, CB Darious Williams, RB Sony Michel, and P Johnny Hekker. But the cupboard is still very strong to the point where I don’t see a dropoff, except for the loss of Miller. Matthew Stafford has been taking it easy on his elbow this offseason, drawing questions as to whether he’s ready for a possible opening-day shootout, but I’m dismissing that concern. This game can go either way, and should be an exciting one. I will take the Rams. Rams 23, Bills 20.

According to DraftKings Sportsbook, the Bills are 2 point favorites against the Rams.

The rest of the DBN staff picks for the game are below. You can use this as your open thread for the game.