- Four years ago, Jalen Ramsey called Josh Allen "trash" in an interview with GQ.
- On Thursday, Allen and the Bills picked apart Ramsey and the Rams en route to a dominant 31-10 victory.
Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills delivered a statement win on Thursday night to start the NFL season.
Entering the year as the MVP and Super Bowl favorites, respectively, Allen and the Bills had much to prove as they traveled to SoFi Stadium to take on the reigning champion Los Angeles Rams. And Buffalo answered the call.
Allen immediately showed that his potential MVP campaign is not just hype, opening the game with a blistering drive, during which he didn't miss a pass and finished with a raindrop throw to Gabe Davis to take a quick lead over the Rams.
—NFL (@NFL) September 9, 2022
But the true victim of the night was Rams cornerback Jalen Ramsey. While Ramsey is a superstar talent, he was far from his best self in the opener, with the Bills offense exploiting him on several occasions.
In the first half, Ramsey got beat by Stefon Diggs for a first down. In fairness, this play had more to do with Allen and Diggs operating on a higher plane of existence than a misfire from Ramsey.
—NFL (@NFL) September 9, 2022
But in the second half, with the Bills working to seal the game, Ramsey got burnt bad. With Diggs running deep, Ramsey kept his eyes upfield for a bit too long. By the time he reacted to Diggs' run by him, it was way too late.
Diggs scooped the ball out of the air and fell into the end zone for the touchdown that would leave no doubt in the game's outcome.
—NFL (@NFL) September 9, 2022
Watching the dots of the play, it's easy to see Diggs simply blow past his defender.
—Seth Walder (@SethWalder) September 9, 2022
The one saving grace on the night for Ramsey was the fact that Allen saved his most embarrassing play for another defender, stiff-arming Rams safety Nick Scott into oblivion on a statement run.
—NFL (@NFL) September 9, 2022
But overall, Ramsey undoubtedly struggled.
As shown by Pro Football Focus, Ramsey's usually elite defending was rendered moot against the Bills' top two receivers.
—PFF (@PFF) September 9, 2022
All this could be chalked up to early-season growing pains for the Rams, but the Bills' dismantling of Ramsey has a particular resonance given some old comments the defender made about the now-Buffalo QB.
Four years ago, while being profiled by GQ, Ramsey, at the time a member of the Jaguars, was extremely dismissive of several quarterbacks across the league.
His harshest words were saved for Allen, a rookie at the time.
"I don't care what nobody say. He's trash," Ramsey said of Allen. "And it's gonna show too. That's a stupid draft pick to me. We play them this year, and I'm excited as hell. I hope he's their starting quarterback."
When the Bills and Jaguars met that season, Allen got the last laugh, beating Ramsey and the Jags 24-21.
On Thursday, it was Allen again who left with the win, this time in even more dominant fashion.