National Football League

Should the Bills be favored against the Rams in Los Angeles?

Updated Sep. 6, 2022 7:34 p.m. ET

The NFL season is just about ready to lift off, and Thursday's kickoff of the 2022-23 campaign marks its glorious return.

Oh, happy day.

The Buffalo Bills and Los Angeles Rams will open football's floodgates for the late-week spectacle, and all eyes will zero in on SoFi Stadium as play gets underway. The Rams embark upon their title defense after winning Super Bowl LVI on their home turf earlier this year, while Buffalo looks to avenge its heart-wrenching postseason tumble against Kansas City.

And surprisingly to some, the defending champion squad isn't the one favored to start 2022 off with a victory. Los Angeles enters the contest as a two-point underdog against Josh Allen and the Bills, which in "First Things First" cohost Nick Wright's mind, is a complete miscalculation.

"This is one of the most baffling lines I can remember to start a season," Wright said Tuesday on "The Herd" with Colin Cowherd.

"I'm not saying Buffalo can't beat the Rams, of course they can," he acknowledged. "[But] Buffalo being 2.5-point favorites in Los Angeles means if this game were in Buffalo, they'd be 8.5-point favorites."

Wright contested that oddsmakers had been smitten by Buffalo's most recent outing, while overlooking their overall body of work from a season ago.

"I think the general public is a little skewed by how they ended the year," he claimed. "They had all that talent throughout the year, and yet by round two of the playoffs, they were on the road with a softer schedule last year than they have this year. Why? Because Josh Allen – as high as the ceiling is – still has some games where it's like ‘ooh, you guys did lose to the Jags didn’t you?' … This is a head-scratching line. I think the Bills are going to be really, really good. But overwhelming Super Bowl favorites? I don't buy [it]."

Bills open NFL season as betting favorites to win Super Bowl LVII | THE HERD

Nick Wright joins Colin Cowherd to discuss the latest in the NFL leading up to the Buffalo Bills vs. Los Angeles Rams season opener.

Colin Cowherd defended the Bills' stately expectations.

"I picked Buffalo to win the Super Bowl last year, and I'm picking them to end up in the Super Bowl this year and win it," he revealed.

He did concede though, that there is reason to be concerned about the team as the season wears on.

"When you do a deep dive on Buffalo, here's the concerning thing: They have a ‘Mike Tyson’ quality," he said. "Tyson wasn't very good in competitive fights with Evander Holyfield or Lennox Lewis because he hadn't been in many competitive fights. He had such dynamic knockout power, a lot of his career was over middle of the third round or sooner.

"The Bills are so audaciously talented at wide receiver, pass rush, Josh Allen, that they Tyson you. They demoralize weak, overwhelm average. … But do you realize in one-score games, the Bills didn't win any of theirs last year? They were 0-6. And the Rams were 7-1 in one-score games. Why? Because they were in them all year, in their division, in the playoffs."

Due to Buffalo's ineptitude in close games, Cowherd sided with Los Angeles for game one.

"[Buffalo] is favored in L.A. against a Super Bowl Rams, a loaded injury-free roster by almost a field goal. It's like what? It's in Los Angeles, it's not in a snowstorm in Buffalo. So it's pretty remarkable how much respect Buffalo has from admirers, also when you consider the weakest part of their team is a really important part: Offensive line. … My guess is Thursday is a really close game. It's why I would take the points and the Rams in that game."