Rams had to go with another silent count at home

Thursday night was supposed to be a celebration for the Los Angeles Rams to kick off the 2022 NFL season.

The defending Super Bowl champs were opening the league's schedule, at home, in a prime time matchup, and raising their second championship banner. 

Only problem is the Buffalo Bills -- and the "Bills Mafia" -- entirely crashed the party. 

Not only did the Bills roll to a convincing and emphatic 31-10 win, harassing Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford all night, but Bills fans became the latest group completely overtake SoFi Stadium and turn it into a home game for themselves.

Bills fans made so much noise that the Rams offense had to resort to another silent count at home.

In the season opener.

On a banner raising night,

That is rough. 

Stafford was asked about it after the game and whether or not it was an issue, and he dismissed it, mainly because the Rams were prepared for it and have done it before.

"I mean, we prepared for it," said Stafford when asked if the crowd played a factor in the game. "We prepared to be on the silent count at home again. But it wasn't something we haven't done before." 

Credit to Bills fans, of course, as they are one of the league's largest and most vocal fan bases and travel extraordinarily well. But this has been a common problem for both the Rams and Chargers since moving to Los Angeles over the past few years, as visiting fans repeatedly take over their home building. It happened multiple times during the 2021 season, with the most prominent game being the regular season finale against the San Francisco 49ers.

Given that the Rams have home games this season against Dallas, Seattle, Denver and the Raiders (other strong fan bases that are known to travel well) they are probably going to have to prepare for this a lot more this season.