Verdi for the Rams, Wagner for the 49ers, Copland for Patriots and Buffalo BIlls

With the NFL season upon us, I’ve decided to match each of the 32 teams with their own classical music soundtrack. We will look at eight teams each week for the month of September. This week features the teams of the NFC West and the AFC East.

The Los Angeles Rams won the Super Bowl last season. It is fitting that their music is “The Triumphal March” from Giuseppe Verdi’s Aida. The ram, in ancient Egyptian mythology, represented the almighty god of sun and air, Amun Re, Amun Re also goes by the name Matthew Stafford.

The Rams defeated The San Francisco 49ers to advance to the Super Bowl. The 49ers' music is Richard Wagner’s Das Rheingold, specifically the music of the gods as they enter Valhalla via the rainbow bridge. Of course, rainbows and bridges are also indicative of San Francisco. This one gets off to a slow start but so have the Niners in recent years.

Finding music for the Arizona Cardinals is a chore. There’s not a lot of music inspired by the cardinal. However, there is the “Thunderstorm” from Grand Canyon Suite by Ferde Grofé.

For the Seattle Seahawks, there is only one choice. The Sea Hawk by Erich Korngold. The opening fanfare sounds like it belongs in a vintage NFL Films production. The Seahawks feel like a vintage NFL team with their defense and run-first philosophy.

On we go to the AFC East and the Buffalo Bills. What better music than “Hoe-Down” from Aaron Copland’s Rodeo? The Bills are this year’s NFL traveling rodeo show with quarterback Josh Allen playing the role of the free-wheeling Buffalo Bill Cody.

The New England Patriots have never been a glamour brand. The Patriot Way is based on everyone doing their job. The greatest quarterback of all time helped. Yet the Patriots continue to be a team of common men doing uncommon things. Their piece of music is “Fanfare for the Common Man* also by Aaron Copland.

What are we to do with the Miami Dolphins? The theme from TV’s Flipper doesn’t quite cut it as classical music. There is the Florida Suite by Frederic Delius but that’s about old-timey Florida, not Miami. Arturo Marquez is a Mexican composer but his Conga del Fuego feels like it fits the Miami Dolphins.

The New York Jets are our final team. This team needs a freaking miracle. They need to be raised from the dead by the finale of Gustav Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony. Mahler, the great man himself, also conducted The Metropolitan Opera and the New York Philharmonic in the early 20th Century.