Josh Allen, Bills hands Rams a lopsided loss, spoiling championship celebration

INGLEWOOD ​​— Rams middle linebacker Bobby Wagner was right about the Buffalo Bills continuing to utilize Josh Allen’s legs for the 2022 season.

There was chatter about the Bills possibly limiting the star quarterback’s running plays to keep him safe, but expecting Allen to run and stopping him from doing it are very different.

Allen scrambled to his right and outstretched his right hand into the end zone while Wagner wrapped his arms around the massive 6-foot-5 quarterback. The Rams were well aware of Allen’s physical gifts, but they had no answers for how to contain him, as the Bills spoiled the Rams’ championship night with a dominant 31-10 victory on Thursday night at SoFi Stadium.

Allen’s 2022 MVP campaign officially started after he got by Wagner for a 4-yard rushing touchdown to give the Bills a 24-10 advantage with 13:27 left in the fourth quarter. Soon after, Allen showed off his strong arm after connecting with Pro Bowl wide receiver Stefon Diggs for a 53-yard touchdown to put the game out of reach for the reigning champions on opening night of the NFL regular season.

Diggs beat Rams star cornerback Jalen Ramsey on the lengthy scoring grab and had a few trash-talking words for Ramsey, who once referred to then-rookie Allen as a “trash” player in an infamous interview with GQ in 2018.

Ramsey rarely gets beat that badly in coverage and rarely does the Rams’ offense plays as poorly as it did against Von Miller and a Bills’ defense that logged seven sacks. The sluggish performance gave Rams coach Sean McVay his career loss in a season opener after starting 5-0 as a head coach.

Allen finished 26 of 31 for 297 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions. Stafford ended 29 of 41 for 240 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions, along with all of those sacks. Newcomer wide receiver Allen Robinson only had one catch for 12 yards.

Allen delivered a nasty stiff-arm to Rams safety Nick Scott to ignite Buffalo’s opening drive of the second half, as the Bills marched 58 yards to retake the lead 17-10 after Isaiah McKenzie’s 7-yard touchdown reception with 7:59 in the third quarter.

Recently retired left tackle Andrew Whitworth was on the field for the Rams’ championship banner ceremony, but he’s no longer available to protect Stafford against the league’s best pass rushers, like Miller, the former Ram who joined the Bills in free agency. Miller recorded his second sack and the team’s fifth total sack in the second quarter. Joe Noteboom struggled versus Miller in his debut as the team’s full-time left tackle.

The Rams had only had 130 total yards heading into the fourth quarter, averaging 6.3 yards per pass attempt and 3.2 yards per rushing attempt. The Rams had three healthy running backs entering the game, but Darrell Henderson received the bulk of the carries with Cam Akers spending plenty of time on the sideline. Rookie running back Kyren Williams sustained an ankle injury early in the game.

With a 10-0 deficit, the Rams finally found a spark after deciding to go for it on fourth-and-2 from the Bills’ 28-yard line. Kupp appeared to be stopped short before right guard Coleman Shelton gave him an extra push to record the first down with a 3-yard reception. The Rams capitalized on the aggressive move after Stafford found Kupp in the corner end zone for a 4-yard touchdown to trim the deficit to three points with three minutes left in the first half. Robinson’s first career catch as a member of the Rams went for 12 yards and made the fourth-down decision easier.

Wagner praised the Bills earlier in the week for incorporating misdirections in their playbook. The Bills’ pre-snap confusion burned the Rams on the opening drive after Allen fooled the defense into thinking run play on third-and-1, which led to Allen finding a wide-open Gabe Davis for a 26-yard touchdown and a 7-0 advantage with 9:56 left in the first quarter.

Allen completed his first 10 passes before throwing an interception to outside linebacker Terrell Lewis, who snatched the ball from McKenzie. The Bills extended their lead to 10-0 after a 41-yard field goal from Tyler Bass in the second quarter.

The Rams recorded three takeaways in the first half and needed all of them to erase their 10-0 deficit after Matt Gay’s 57-yard field goal tied the game entering halftime.

More to come on this story.

Gilbert Manzano covers the Los Angeles Rams for the O.C. Register and the Southern California News Group. The Pasadena native spent four seasons as the Chargers beat reporter for SCNG and covered the Raiders before that for the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The Cal State Northridge graduate also spent two seasons as a breaking news editor for NFL.com. The Mexican-American lefty likes to go on runs with his dog, Cam.