Falcons are on the shortlist of teams the Rams could face in their home opener

The Super Bowl is over, which means the collective focus has shifted to the anticipation of the offseason. That means we’re talking draft, free agency, summer competitions and apparently the Rams’ 2022 home opener.

Because the Falcons are one of the scheduled road teams facing Los Angeles—I am not going to pencil that into my calendar with a smiley face next to it, I can tell you that much—they’re a possibility for the Thursday night season opener against the Super Bowl champions.

It’s hard to figure out an angle that would encourage the NFL to go with the Falcons, so this is more of an interesting note than anything I think is particularly likely to come to fruition. The Rams dispatched the 49ers en route to the Super Bowl, they play in the same division as the Seahawks and Cardinals, the Bills are a legitimate contender and would offer a compelling matchup, and the Cowboys are once again viewed as one of the NFC’s rising teams. The Falcons beat the Rams in the 2017-18 postseason and in some ways likely helped spark the slow build to this Super Bowl win, but there are more compelling and more recent story lines right there for the league’s schedulemakers to consider.

The Falcons probably won’t have to open their season up against the Rams, then, but they’re still headed for an awfully difficult road matchup at some point in 2022. Regardless of when they play, let’s hope our favorite team improves enough to surprise the champs.