First impressions are crucial. That is true regardless of whether you are going on a date, interviewing for a job, meeting your significant other’s parents for the first time, or simply making your grand entrance into a social gathering. While you may not instinctively associate the importance of first impressions in an NFL setting, I can assure you that it is every bit as vital to open a new NFL season impressively.

When the LA Rams opened up with a bit of an upset in Week 1 against the Seattle Seahawks, the victory may not have ignited a lengthy winning streak for the team initially. But it did set the stage for the team to win five of six games in the ultra-competitive NFC Western Division. And it did plant the seed that would eventually blossom into a seven victory finish in the final eight games of the season.

But in 2024, the Rams are a returning NFL Playoffs team. The stakes are that much higher in 2024. And the Detroit Lions, the same team that sent the team home by the thinnest of margins in the Wild Card Round of the 2024 NFL Playoffs, host the team to open the 2024 NFL season.

And many are already anointing the Lions as the team to beat in 2024.

I get it. The Detroit Lions have been so famished for any postseason success that they plan to milk their lone playoff win in recent memory for all it’s worth. And it just so happens that the NFL marketing department, always willing to leverage a golden opportunity to strike while the iron is hot, sees a chance to catch a winning lottery ticket by pitting the Rams on the road to face the Lions to open the 2024 NFL season.

The Lions are already counting their chickens before they are hatched.

Week 1 is not just any game for this LA Rams team. It is the apex of what the Rams hope to accomplish in the 2024 NFL season. And that means that the players on the team will be quite ready to play their best in Week 1.

It was the Lions, and not the Rams, who were the more physical team in the playoffs. It was that physicality that sent TE Tyler Higbee out of the game with an ACL injury, and was a controversial play at a bare minimum. Rams players have not forgotten.

It was the Lions, and not the Rams, who were talking trash before the game. It was a city with fans that transformed from football fans to fanatics. A stadium filled with boos and jeers for their former starting quarterback Matthew Stafford. Rams players have not forgotten.

But most of all, and worst of all, this was a game that featured Lions fans booing and jeering Matthew Stafford’s daughters throughout the game. A line was crossed. A genie was let out of the magic lamp who cannot be pushed back inside. Rams players have not forgotten.

This one will be a clash of titans, a game to memorialize the best play of what could be two of the best teams in the NFL. The Detroit Lions did finally get a playoff win at the expense of the LA Rams but by one point at home. While they won the battle on that day, I don’t believe they truly know what’s coming.

The team got tougher. The team got more physical. The team added more weapons. The team added more depth. As fun as the Wild Card Round of the 2024 NFL Playoffs were for both teams, this one is a bit more personal.

First impressions are indeed crucial. The LA Rams know this and will put their best effort on the football field in Week 1. Everyone loves the Lions this season. I say the Rams are more than happy to play the villain, the underdog, and the spoiler. This is Year 3 of the uncanny three-year cycle for the Rams football team. Be prepared for a thriller.

The Rams intend on not only competing in postseason competition this season, but winning in postseason competition. To do so, winning now gives the team a tactical as well as practical advantage in terms of tie-breakers and playoff seeding. But perhaps most of all, the Rams need to prove to the NFL that this team is capable of counter-punching as well as taking punches.

The Lions just happen to be the first team to feel how well this team can pummel.

Thanks for reading.