Did Star Wars: The Force Awakens Fire A Deliberate Shot At The Prequels?

On the promotional tour for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, while unable to say much about the movie itself, J.J. Abrams jokingly revealed the first spoken word from the film to Jimmy Kimmel as "This." Later, Abrams confirmed to Fox 5 DC reporter Kevin McCarthy that the second spoken word was "will." It didn't sound like much, but now that we've seen the movie and have the full picture in front of us, did Abrams know this by heart because he knew his movie opened with a clear shot at the prequels?...