Rams to open season at home vs. Bills, face Chargers on New Year’s Day

The Super Bowl LVI champion Los Angeles Rams will open the 2022 season Sept. 8 by playing host to the Buffalo Bills in the NFL Kickoff Game at SoFi Stadium, the league announced Thursday as it unveiled the bulk of its schedule.

The Rams’ 17-game schedule also includes a New Year’s Day “Sunday Night Football” game against the Los Angeles Chargers at SoFi Stadium, with the Chargers designated as the home team. Because New Year’s Day falls on a Sunday in 2023, there will be no conflict with the Rose Bowl Game, which will be played on Jan. 2 because of its “Never on Sunday” rule.

The Rams will play three other prime-time games — “Monday Night Football” games on ESPN at San Francisco Oct. 3 and at Green Bay Dec. 19 and a “Thursday Night Football” game at SoFi Stadium against the Las Vegas Raiders Dec. 8 that will be streamed on Amazon Prime Video and also shown by a Los Angeles television station to continue fulfilling the NFL’s policy in showing all of a team’s games on broadcast television in its market.

This will be the fifth consecutive season the Rams will play five prime-time games.

The Rams’ other home games will be on Sept. 18 against the Atlanta Falcons; Oct. 9 against the Dallas Cowboys; Oct. 16 against the Carolina Panthers; Oct. 30 against the San Francisco 49ers; Nov. 13 against the Arizona Cardinals; Dec. 4 against the Seattle Seahawks; and Dec. 25 against the Denver Broncos.

The Rams’ other road games will be on Sept. 25 against the Arizona Cardinals; Nov. 6 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers; Nov. 20 against the New Orleans Saints; Nov. 27 against the Kansas City Chiefs; and Jan. 7 or 8 against the Seattle Seahawks.

Several games had been announced earlier, including the Christmas Day game between the Rams and Denver.

The NFL’s schedule is based on a formula assuring that a team will face each of the 31 other teams at least once over four years.

Each team plays home and road games against each of the other three teams in its division, one game each against all the teams in one division in its conference and one in the other conference, the remaining teams in its conference that finished in the same position in the standings as it did and a team from a designated division in the other conference that finished in the same position it did.

The Rams’ lone home preseason game will be during the second week of preseason play against the Houston Texans.

Their three-game preseason schedule will begin with a road game against the Los Angeles Chargers and conclude with a road game against the Cincinnati Bengals in a rematch of Super Bowl LVI that few players who played in Super Bowl LVI are expected to play, as coaches opt not to play their starters in an attempt to avoid injuries that would sideline them for the regular-season opener.

The dates for the preseason games will be announced later.

Here is the Rams’ 2022 regular-season schedule:

Sept. 8: Buffalo

Sept. 18: Atlanta

Sept. 25: at Arizona

Oct. 3: at San Francisco

Oct. 9: Dallas

Oct. 16: Carolina

Oct. 30: San Francisco

Nov. 6: at Tampa Bay

Nov. 13: Arizona

Nov. 20: at New Orleans

Nov. 27: at Kansas City

Dec. 4: Seattle

Dec. 8: Las Vegas

Dec. 19: at Green Bay

Dec. 25: Denver

Jan. 1: at Los Angeles Chargers

Jan. 7/8: at Seattle