THE 2022 NFL SEASON will kick off with the Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams hosting the Buffalo Bills at SoFi Stadium on 8 September.
The Bills, led by star quarterback Josh Allen, again loom as a title contender in the AFC.
But the Rams, with quarterback Matthew Stafford and star defender Aaron Donald among the core of players returning after their Super Bowl triumph over the Cincinnati Bengals, will be heading into 2022 with aspirations of becoming the first repeat champions since the New England Patriots in 2005.
The NFL revealed the entire regular-season schedule on Thursday, first teasing fans with the release of every team’s home opener.
Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys will open up the Sunday Night Football slate against Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a rematch of last season’s NFL season opener.
#Kickoff2022 is going to be UNREAL. 🔥👀@BuffaloBills | @RamsNFL
— NFL (@NFL) May 12, 2022
📺: 2022 NFL Schedule Release -- 8pm ET on @nflnetwork pic.twitter.com/LxCj2U9ayk
The first Monday Night Football game of the year will be a homecoming for the ages as Russell Wilson and the Denver Broncos head to the Pacific Northwest to play Wilson’s old squad, the Seattle Seahawks.
Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs will visit Tampa Bay for a Super Bowl 55 rematch with Brady and the Buccaneers in week four — on September 11.
The NFL had already announced some 2022 schedule highlights.
Brady and the Bucs will face the Seattle Seahawks in the first NFL regular season fixture staged in Germany, at Munich’s Allianz Arena on 13 November.
That fixture is one of five international games scheduled for the 2022 campaign, which include three in London, one in Munich and one in Mexico City.
The league’s traditional Thanksgiving holiday triple-header will see the Bills at the Detroit Lions, the Philadelphia Eagles at Dallas and the New England Patriots at the Minnesota Vikings.
The NFL is going big on Christmas, too, with the first Christmas Day triple-header in league history.
The three games will include four playoff teams from the 2021 season, each of the past two Super Bowl champions and a trio of intriguing quarterback matchups as the Green Bay Packers visit the Miami Dolphins, the Denver Broncos visit the Rams and the Buccaneers visit the Arizona Cardinals.
