Bills take on the Rams on Thursday night, September 8 to kickoff the NFL regular season
We’ve made it to Bills game week, ladies and gentlemen.
We are officially four days away from watching Josh Allen play quarterback, Von Miller wreak havoc on offensive lines, and the Buffalo Bills play football. After the way last season ended, this has surely been a long time coming for Bills fans everywhere. Bills fans need just one game to get the sour taste of the Divisional Round out of their mouths. Well Bills Mafia, we’ve made it to the home stretch.
The Bills, attracting high expectations of “Super Bowl or bust” as the preseason Super Bowl favorites, will be fielding the best team we’ve seen in a long time. Will this be the year?
The opening game being on the road against the reigning Super Bowl Champs sets the stage for a challenging 2022 schedule for the Bills. Tied for the 12th-most difficult schedule in the NFL, they’ll have to go against the Rams, Chiefs, Packers, Bengals, and Ravens this season, just to name a few. I think the Bills will be up to the challenge when the season begins.
This offseason has been long as the anticipation has increased with new expectations, but it’s been a fun one. There’s been some bumps along the way, too.
The team recently had to deal with the negative attention due to the Matt Araiza lawsuit, but they did the right thing by releasing him, and quickly found a more-than capable replacement in Sam Martin. The team also had a few ‘skirmishes’ during camp, one involving Josh Allen, which drew the attention of national media. But, overall in the offseason, the good outweighed the bad.
GM Brandon Beane certainly wasn’t complacent this offseason. With the signing of future Hall of Famer Von Miller, the re-signing of Isaiah McKenzie, and the signings of plenty of veteran contributors, the team grew even more talented and the fans’ excitement grew even bigger.
And in April’s draft, Beane reloaded with young talent. First round pick Kaiir Elam will have to fill in for Tre White while he begins the season on the PUP list, and he should be up to the task. With the coaching the Bills have and the help that Elam has available around him, I have a lot of confidence in the rookie to begin the season. James Cook (second round) and Terrel Bernard (third round) are two more talented rookies who should have solidified roles this year, too.
We have a long season ahead of us, folks, and I know we’re all amped up about it. I’m sure there will be some electric wins, but there will also most likely be some difficult losses along the way. But that’s just going to make the story even better. Game week is finally here so strap in for another season of joy, stress, and excitement.