Buffalo Bills a strong bet to headline NFL’s opening night

The Bills play both Super Bowl teams

The Buffalo Bills have upped their play on a national stage over the last few years, drawing huge ratings on Thanksgiving, in primetime, and in nationally televised playoff games. Couple that with an explosion of Josh Allen both on the field and the red carpet during Super Bowl week, and the Bills seem like a pretty good bet to be featured in the 2022 season opener against the defending Super Bowl champ.

The Bills will play at both Super Bowl teams in 2022. They play at the Cincinnati Bengals as part of the rotation where the AFC East plays the AFC North next season. As part of the new intra-conference single games, the Bills play at the Los Angeles Rams as the “17th game” on their schedule.

With Allen burning up Radio Row this past week and even having a short sketch to close out the NFL Honors television presentation with host Keegan-Michael Key, the Bills’ quarterback has been everywhere this week after skipping the Pro Bowl to play in the Pebble Beach Pro-Am last weekend.

The only thing stopping the Bills from playing on opening night might be even bigger ratings bonanzas for the Rams and Bengals. The Bills played at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this year in a nationally televised late afternoon contest instead of opening night because the schedule-makers put the Dallas Cowboys and the return of Dak Prescott on opening night.

The Rams host the Cowboys this year. They also host the Denver Broncos, and if rumors of a Nathaniel Hackett and Aaron Rodgers reunion come to fruition, that would be an attractive game.

The Bengals host their AFC Championship Game opponent, the Kansas City Chiefs, in 2022. That is another attractive matchup, even if it means the two teams will play three times in five weeks of game action. They met in Week 17 in 2021, then in the Conference Championship, so the season-opener would be another game albeit months apart.