A 2022 NFL Tarot Prediction: Los Angeles Rams vs Buffalo Bills
It’s that time of year again! Although I’m not much of a fan, the structure of the American game of professional football offers an ideal opportunity to apply my “Enemy At The Gates” head-to-head confrontation spread.
The Los Angeles Rams will host the Buffalo Bills in Los Angeles for the first game of the National Football League’s 2022 season on Thursday, September 8th. For this prediction I applied the new scoring model I developed back in March. I attempted to use a “raw score comparison” without reversed cards in the initial run-through, but it showed the Rams scoring over forty points by the end of the game, which did not seem realistic for two such strong, well-matched opponents. So I switched to a quarterly “point-gap” projection and allowed for reversals, which produced a more reasonable forecast. The numerical overview could be likened to a “play-by-play” analysis (although without most of the detail) while the narrative content of the cards pulled offered some “color commentary.” As the home team, the Rams hold the top row of the spread and the Bills take the bottom one. As usual with these “test-of-strength” match-ups, I chose the Chariot (symbolizing triumph in physical terms) as the “Opportunity card” (aka Significator) since I interpret it as “rapid movement toward a goal;” this card and the three “quintessence” cards at the right side came from the Radiant RWS deck. The deck for the main reading was the Albano-Waite.
For the first quarter, I pulled the World (XXI) for the Rams and the Tower (XVI) for the Bills. The World suggests that the Rams will be poised and confident, while the Tower could mean that the Bills will have trouble with the Rams defense and may be forced into a few mistakes (fumbles or interceptions) and possibly crippling injuries. Still, the point gap is only six points in favor of the Rams, amounting to a couple of field goals or a touchdown without extra point. No “blowout” looms despite the rather desperate testimony of the Tower.
According to the spread design, with the World the Rams’ “Strength” is their unflappable “certainty of success,” while the Bills sport the unpredictable explosiveness of the Tower; despite indications to the contrary, they could “break it wide open” at any time.
The second quarter draw produced the Chariot (VII) reversed for the Rams and Death (XIII) reversed for the Bills. I often say of the Chariot reversed, “The wheels came off,” so the idea is that the Rams juggernaut will stall decisively during this period. The Death card typically portends a major adjustment to the status quo, so the Bills may rethink their game plan and make some unavoidable changes. Both cards are reversed, which I consider to show negative numbers (-7 and -13); once again, the gap is only six points but the temptation is to give the advantage to the Rams since minus 13 is deeper in the hole than minus 7. However, the profound nature of the Bills “reboot” could give them an edge over the suddenly impotent Rams, so I’m calling the quarter in their favor. This would bring the point gap back to zero, a tied game by halftime.
According to the spread design, the Chariot reversed could express the Rams’ “Weakness” as an uninspired, hot-and-cold, easily-deflected offense; with Death reversed, the Bills’ “Weakness” could be a growing fatalism if the game doesn’t immediately go their way.
The third quarter pull gave me the 3 of Swords for the Rams and the 7 of Wands for the Bills. The 3 of Swords looks like “loss of heart” as the Rams’ woes continue. The 7 of Wands is a combative card that conveys the idea of “taking the high ground,” as old-time military strategists were wont to do. We might see this as the Bill’s aerial attack suddenly catching fire. The point gap is only four in favor of the Bills by the end of the quarter, which could mean the difference between a field goal on one side and a touchdown on the other (or multiples thereof).
According to the spread design, the 3 of Swords, usually a card of cognitive discontent, could mean that the Rams “Edge” in the contest is this very mental restlessness as long as it doesn’t degenerate into nervous errors of judgment (missed calls, offside penalties and the like). For their part, the Bills bring the grim resolve of the 7 of Wands to the field as their “Edge.”
The fourth quarter widens the point gap as the Bills open up their lead. The 7 of Pentacles reversed suggests that the Rams will have trouble capitalizing on any favors that are handed to them (the play-by-play script could be read as “the fumble landed right at their feet but they blew the chance to take possession of the football”). The 9 of Wands for the Bills implies holding the line in a “bloodied but unbowed” defensive stance that seems to be saying “none shall pass.” With the Rams’ reversed 7 of Pentacles (-7), the Bills’ “+9” showing becomes a 16-point boon, which I’m not sure I believe; we might switch horses here and ignore the reversal, indicating that the Rams will score one touch down and the Bills will rack up a TD and a field goal, yielding a spread of three points for the quarter (rounding up from the two indicated by the math to agree with normal scoring conventions). Taking it this way, the bottom line by the end of the game displays a slim one-touchdown edge for the Bills rather than a 20-point cakewalk. As an “oh-by-the-way,” if I took all of the cards at face value from a “raw score” perspective, the final total would be 10 for the Rams and 19 for the Bills, also not an unthinkable outcome.
According to the spread design,this position is defined as “Allie’s Power,” which in a football context I read as showing the performance of the defense in support of the offensive team. The 7 of Pentacles reversed implies that the Rams’ defense will be caught flat-footed all too often in the late going. The Bills’ defense, displaying a reprise of the third quarter’s tenacious grit, looks like it will “hang tough” with the 9 of Wands.
The “quintessence” cards are derived by adding or subtracting the numerical weights of the four cards in each row and equating the results to two of the trump cards. A sum of ten for the Rams generates the Wheel of Fortune, while a total of nineteen for the Bills comes up with the Sun. These cards are intended to provide a high-level take on which team will have the upper hand. The Wheel of Fortune, a moderately fortuitous but unreliable card, reveals that luck could go either way for the Rams since the Wheel spins up in one direction and down in the other. The Bill’s Sun is emphatically favorable; it’s expected to be blazing hot in LA for the game, and the visiting team may just glory in it rather than becoming enfeebled. In any dust-up between Dame Fortune and Apollo, I think I would bet on the Sun god.
According to the spread design, the Rams’ “Chances” for victory appear to be in the hands of a capricious fate (Wheel of Fortune), not what fans and odds-makers want to hear, while the Sun shines strongly on the Bills prospects for a win.
The Grand Quintessence card (the “Decision”) is an arithmetic roll-up of the values of the two sub-quints, and offers the “last word” regarding which team is favored to win. The idea is to compare the trump card deduced by this step to the four cards in each row and determine which series it best supports for the victory. The result here is Justice (10+19=29; 2+9=11), which is a card of “receiving one’s just desserts.” The picture doesn’t really become clear until the second half when the Bills receive two “valorous” upright Wands while, with their disjointed array, the Rams continue the decline that began in the second quarter. Justice often rewards the one who stays the course, and in this case the 7 of Wands and the 9 of Wands as the Bill’s “closing act” give them a clear claim to that honor. “One touchdown” may be the minimum differential if the performance disparity becomes any more pronounced, but two touchdowns may be overstating it.
Originally published at http://parsifalswheeldivination.wordpress.com on September 8, 2022.
