Panthers head coach Dave Canales knows Saturday’s playoff game against the Rams isn’t just another game. But he also doesn’t want his players to think of it as too big a game.
Canales said he thinks players who haven’t played in the playoffs before have benefited this week from the veteran players who have been to the playoffs talking about simultaneously recognizing it’s a big game and not going overboard.
“It is special, and it’s important that we recognize that, we lean into it and we feed off that energy,” Canales said. “At the same time, we’ve got to keep our head about us and execute on the most fundamental parts of it. Because if you get too excited and caught up in the moment, you can sacrifice technique, and sometimes you can go too far and that’s not what I want either.”
The Panthers haven’t been to the playoffs since 2017 and they haven’t won a playoff game since winning the NFC Championship Game after Cam Newton’s MVP season of 2015. This is not a Panthers team with much playoff experience, and Canales wants to ensure the many players on his team who have never been in a playoff game before are approaching Saturday the right way.
As the Rams head to Charlotte as 10.5-point favorites over the Panthers, quarterback Matthew Stafford has a chance to claim a slice of postseason history.
Via NBC Sports research, Stafford has thrown multiple touchdown passes in seven straight playoff games. If Stafford does it again on Saturday, he’ll tie Joe Flacco at eight — the second longest streak in NFL history.
And if the Rams win and Stafford does it again next week, Stafford will tie Aaron Rodgers for the record of nine straight playoff games with multiple touchdown passes.
Making that task a little easier will be the presence of Puka Nacua, who led the league with 129 catches, and the return from a hamstring injury of Davante Adams, who led the league with 14 touchdown catches in 14 games.
Obviously, the primary goal will be to win those games. Starting with making amends for the regular-season road loss to the Panthers. And, depending on how the rest of the wild-card round goes, a potential return to Seattle for a rematch of one of the best regular-season games in years.
The Rams are 10.5-point favorites at Carolina in Saturday’s playoff opener, but Sean McVay says his team knows it has a challenge on its hands. The Rams were 10-point favorites at Carolina in Week 13, but the Panthers won 31-28.
McVay said the Rams respect the Panthers, who taught them a hard lesson about what can happen when they make too many mistakes.
“They did a great job,” McVay said of the Panthers. “They made the plays to win the game and we came up short. We had our chances but there’s a lot of learning opps. There’s a lot of learning opps even when we’ve gotten the results we wanted in those 12 wins we had. But this was a good, humbling day. You don’t take away anything — they earned that win, but we do have a very clear understanding of what’s going to be required for us to be at our best, to do the things that are necessary first and foremost starting with ourselves, and then geared toward the opponent and the scheme. Our players have a lot of respect for these guys. We’ll be ready to go, but we know what a great challenge it’ll be.”
The betting line may not look like the Rams are in for a great challenge, but McVay isn’t going to let his team get overconfident against an opponent that just beat them six weeks ago.
The Falcons announced Thursday night that they have completed interviews with Brandt Tilis and Mike Disner for their newly created position of president of football operations.
Tilis is the Panthers’ executive vice president, and Disner is the Lions COO.
The team is expected to offer the job to former Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan.
Disner joined the Lions in 2019 after six seasons as the Cardinals’ director of football administration. He began his career in Detroit as the Lions’ vice president of football administration, with oversight of the team’s salary cap and player contract negotiations.
The Lions promoted him to Chief Operating Officer in May 2022.
He has spent 19 seasons in the NFL, starting as an intern for the Patriots for two summers in 2005-06 before a promotion to scouting assistant in 2007.
The Panthers hired Tilis in January 2024 to work with General Manager Dan Morgan on cap and salary negotiations.
He previously spent 14 seasons working in Kansas City, including the final three as vice president of football operations. Tilis also worked as director of football administration (2017-20) and director of salary cap and football operations analytics (2014-16) after originally joining the Chiefs in 2010 as a salary cap/contract analyst.
We used to post our regular-season awards one at a time. This year, we’re trying something different. Mainly because there’s too much other stuff going on.
All awards will be unveiled in one fell swoop. In one comprehensive post.
These aren’t my awards. The Associated Press doesn’t want any of the 50 voters to reveal their winners before the NFL Honors ceremony next month. We don’t need to wait that long to reveal the our own look at the folks who deserve recognition based on their performances during the 272-game season that ended four days ago.
So here they are, based on the input of the various PFT writers.
Offensive Rookie of the Year: Panthers receiver Tetairoa McMillan.
The first-rounder finished with 1,017 receiving yards in 17 games for the NFC South champs. If Saints quarterback Tyler Shough had started more than nine games, he may have run away with it.
Also receiving consideration was Buccaneers first-round receiver Emeka Egbuka (938 receiving yards).
In the end, the 1,000-yard season and presence on a playoff team gave McMillan the nod.
Defensive Rookie of the Year: Browns linebacker Carson Schwesinger.
The first pick in round two emerged as the consensus top rookie on the defensive side of the ball, with 16 starts, 156 tackles, two interceptions, and 2.5 sacks.
Others considered were Seahawks defensive back Nick Emmanwori and Falcons linebacker James Pearce Jr.
Comeback Player of the Year: 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey.
Limited to four games in 2024 due to an Achilles injury that delayed his debut and a knee injury that ended his season, McCaffrey returned to full form in 2025. He had 2,126 yards from scrimmage (his third 2,000-yard performance) and came within 76 receiving yards of his second 1,000/1,000 rushing/receiving season.
McCaffrey’s ability to play every game helped keep the 49ers going amid an array of injuries to key players on both sides of the ball, fueling a 12-5 season that ended with a playoff berth.
Also receiving consideration were Lions defensive end Aidan Hutchinson, who had a career-high 14.5 sacks after suffering a broken leg in 2024, and Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, who finished with 4,552 passing yards a year after missing nine games with a serious hamstring injury.
Offensive Player of the Year: Falcons running back Bijan Robinson.
During the 2025 season, now-former Falcons coach Raheem Morris repeatedly called Robinson the best player in the NFL. Robinson led the league with 2,298 yards from scrimmage, and he proved to be a threat to score on any given snap. He had the longest run of the season — a 93-yarder — and 6.3 yards per touch.
Others receiving consideration were McCaffrey, Seahawks receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba (league-high 1,793 receiving yards), and Rams receiver Puka Nacua (league-high 129 catches).
Defensive Player of the Year: Browns defensive end Myles Garrett.
This one was the easiest of all. Garrett broke the single-season sack record, with 23.0. He had a four-sack game against the Ravens, and a five-sack performance against the Patriots.
Given that the Browns rarely had a late lead, allowing Garrett to pin the proverbial ears back and chase a quarterback who was passing the ball over and over again, Garrett’s ability to generate so many sacks was even more impressive.
Others receiving consideration were Texans defensive end Will Anderson Jr. (12.0 sacks and the captain of the NFL’s best defense), and Broncos linebacker Nik Bonitto (14.0 sacks).
Assistant Coach of the Year: Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph.
The former Broncos head coach (from 2017-18) was essentially the head coach of the Denver defense, which continues to be among the NFL’s best. With Joseph, the Broncos secured the No. 1 seed in the AFC. That could earn Joseph another shot at a head-coaching job.
Others receiving consideration were Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, Texans defensive coordinator Matt Burke, and Jaguars defensive coordinator Anthony Campanile.
Coach of the Year: Jaguars coach Liam Coen.
This one was the closest call, between the first-year coach who took the Jaguars to the AFC South title (after only one year as Tampa’s offensive coordinator, following one year in 2022 as the Rams’ offensive coordinator) and Mike Vrabel, who immediately returned the Patriots to prominence. New England had an easy schedule (they didn’t pick it), and Vrabel’s track record made the overall turnaround less surprising.
Few expected Coen to take a team that had been 4-13 in 2024 to a division crown. Along the way, Coen sparked an eight-game winning streak after a 1-3 lull to hold off the Texans (who could be the best team in the entire conference) for the division crown.
Others receiving consideration were Bears coach Ben Johnson, Broncos coach Sean Payton, and Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald.
Executive of the Year: Seahawks G.M. John Schneider.
The decision to trade quarterback Geno Smith and pivot to quarterback Sam Darnold was the boldest move the long-time Seattle G.M. made. But Schneider has otherwise put together a roster that is among the best in the league, helping to lay the foundation for a team that won the top seed in the NFC, despite stiff competition in the NFC West.
Others receiving consideration were Jaguars G.M. James Gladstone, Bears G.M. Ryan Poles, and Patriots executive V.P. of player personnel Eliot Wolf.
MVP: Patriots quarterback Drake Maye.
Maye or Stafford? Stafford or Maye?
Anyone can pick a stat and make the case for either Maye or Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford. Stafford had the NFL’s most passing yards, with 4,707, and passing touchdowns, with 46. Maye had the highest average per attempt, with 8.93 (more than a full yard more than Stafford), and the highest passer rating in the league, at 113.5.
Here’s one that helped tip the scale toward Maye: He had an eight-game run with 200 or more passing yards and a passer rating of 100 or higher. Only three players in NFL history had ever done that before — Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, and Peyton Manning. Each won the MVP award when they accomplished that feat. Maye became the youngest to ever do it, at 23.
Stafford likely would have been our MVP, if the Rams hadn’t blown a 16-point lead with 13:34 to play against the Seahawks in Week 16. Five fourth-quarter drives by the Rams after that moment yielded zero points.
That same weekend, Maye engineered a pair of fourth-quarter touchdown drives against the Ravens, turning a 24-13 deficit into a 28-24 win. The first covered 73 yards. The second started at the New England 11.
In those two prime-time games, the Rams lost both the No. 1 seed and the NFC West crown — and the Patriots moved a massive step closer to ending Buffalo’s five-year hammerlock on the AFC East.
Would it have been an easier call if the Patriots had secured the No. 1 seed? Yes. Still, Maye’s statistical achievements coupled with a division title and the No. 2 seed in the AFC (versus the Rams at No. 5) were enough to earn Maye the MVP title in only his second NFL season.
