Don’t look now, but the Panthers have a fourth-quarter lead.
After Mike Jackson picked off Matthew Stafford on third-and-long, Chuba Hubbard put the ball in the box for his second touchdown to give Carolina a 24-20 lead with 14:34 remaining in the contest.
Jackson undercut a route to the left by Davante Adams to intercept Stafford. He also had a pick-six off of Stafford during the Panthers’ regular-season victory over the Rams.
Bryce Young then hit Jalen Coker with a 52-yard pass to end the third quarter, setting the Panthers up inside the Los Angeles 10.
A couple of plays later, Hubbard was in the end zone to give Carolina its first lead of the contest.
Since the Panthers muffed a punt late in the second quarter, they have thoroughly outplayed the Rams. We’ll see if they can keep it up to pull off a major upset to start wild card weekend.
Panthers Clips
The Rams had a lot of things go in their favor in the first half, but they have just a 17-14 lead over the Panthers at halftime.
Though Los Angeles was a heavy favorite entering Saturday’s game, Carolina has been able to hang around, particularly making a couple of key plays late in the half.
While Trevor Etienne muffed a punt that the Rams recovered with a chance to increase their lead in the second quarter, there ended up being no damage done. Matthew Stafford’s pass on fourth-and-3 from the Carolina 19 to Tyler Higbee was low, broken up, and incomplete.
From there, the Panthers went 81 yards in just five plays to cut the Rams’ lead to just three points. Bryce Young connected with Jalen Coker for a 37-yard pass down to the 16-yard line. From there, Young evaded pressure on third-and-10 and ran it into the end zone for a 16-yard touchdown.
The Rams looked like they would at least get points in response when Stafford tossed a deep ball to Puka Nacua down the right sideline. But the usually sure-handed receiver dropped it to keep the score at 17-14.
Young was 11-of-20 for 151 yards with an interception in the first half.
Stafford was 10-of-17 for 137 yards with one touchdown in the first 30 minutes. Nacua caught six of his 10 targets for 63 yards with one touchdown. He also had a 5-yard touchdown on what was a backward pass from Stafford that gave the Rams a 14-0 lead at the time.
On the injury front, Panthers right guard Robert Hunt is questionable to return with a pectoral injury. Austin Corbett came in to replace him. Carolina is also down left tackle Ikem Ekwonu, who is out with a knee injury suffered during the first quarter.
With momentum on the Panthers side, the Rams will get the ball first to start the second half. While they have 214 yards, the Rams have gone just 1-of-6 on third down. Improving that mark will be key to staving off a big upset in the wild card round.
The Panthers are on the board.
Chuba Hubbard punched it in for a 1-yard touchdown to make the score 14-7, Rams, with 8:53 left in the second quarter.
The Panthers took just seven plays to go 65 yards, taking 3:23 off the clock on their first scoring drive of the day.
After throwing an interception on Carolina’s previous possession, Bryce Young connected on a 15-yard pass to Jalen Coker to push the Panthers into Rams territory. Then Young hit consecutive passes of 14 and 22 yards to Tetairoa McMillan to put the ball at Los Angeles’ 11-yard line.
Cobie Durant was flagged for defensive pass interference on third-and-2 from the L.A. 3 when he didn’t get his head turned around to play the ball on a pass in the end zone to Zavier Legette.
With the ball at the 1-yard line on the net play, Hubbard got into the end zone for Carolina’s first points of the day.
Earlier on the drive, Panthers right guard Robert Hunt had to exit the contest and go into the sideline medical tent.
The Rams have taken advantage of a Panthers giveaway to increase their lead.
Matthew Stafford hit Puka Nacua with a backward pass for the receiver’s second touchdown of the contest, giving Los Angeles a 14-0 advantage.
Los Angeles picked up its first takeaway of the game on first-and-10 from the L.A. 44, as Bryce Young’s pass intended for Jalen Coker was tipped by Quentin Lake and picked off by Cobie Durant. He returned it 11 yards, but the Rams got 15 more from an unnecessarily roughness penalty called on tight end Mitchell Evans.
From there, the Rams converted third-and-2 with a pass from Matthew Stafford to Puka Nacua to bring up first-and-goal from the 9-yard line.
Nacua then scored on a short, backward pass to the left, breaking tackles to get in the end zone for his second touchdown reception of the game.
Stafford has started the game 6-of-6 for 74 yards. Five of his six passes have gone to Nacua for 59 yards.
The Panthers have a significant developing injury situation along their offensive line during the first half of their wild card matchup with the Rams.
Left tackle Ikem Ekwonu has been ruled out with a knee injury.
Ekwonu went down on Carolina’s second possession on a second-down sack. Via reporters on the scene, Ekwonu was able to walk off gingerly before heading to the sideline medical tent. The FOX broadcast subsequently showed Ekwonu being driven to the locker room on the back of a cart for further evaluation. The Panthers ruled him out quickly thereafter.
Ekwonu started 15 games for the Panthers this season.
Yosh Nijman entered the game at left tackle to replace Ekwonu.
The Rams were heavy favorites for Saturday’s wild card matchup with the Panthers.
So far, they look the part.
Matthew Stafford hit Puka Nacua for a 14-yard touchdown, giving Los Angeles an early 7-0 lead.
The Panthers received the opening kickoff and with an aggressive mindset, went for it on fourth-and-1 from their own 45-yard line. But But Carolina didn’t get it when Bryce Young’s pass short pass along the right sideline was broken up by Quentin Lake — who was out due to injury for the regular-season matchup between the two teams.
With a short field in front of them, the Rams faced little resistance getting down the field in just four plays. Nacua caught all three of Stafford’s targets for 40 yards on the possession, with Kyren Williams also taking a 5-yard carry.
The Rams did not face a third down on the possession.
The Rams will not have one of their young tight ends for Saturday’s wild card matchup against the Panthers.
Rookie Terrance Ferguson is officially inactive for the game after he was listed as questionable for the contest. Ferguson was listed as a non-participant on Tuesday and Wednesday before a limited session on Thursday.
Cornerback Josh Wallace (ankle) is also inactive for Los Angeles after he was listed as quesitonable.
Right guard Kevin Dotson (ankle) and receiver Jordan Whittington (knee) were previously ruled out.
The Panthers, however, have a healthy 53-man roster.
Los Angeles’ full list of inactives is: Ferguson, Dotson, Wallace, Whittington, cornerback Deion Kendrick, cornerback Darious Williams, and quarterback Stetson Bennett.
Carolina’s inactives are linebacker Krys Barnes, center Nick Samac, defensive tackle Jared Harrison-Hunte, receiver David Moore, and defensive end LaBryan Ray.
Kickoff between the Rams and Panthers is set for 4:30 p.m. ET on FOX.
Panthers wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan is expected to win the NFL’s offensive rookie of the year honor. But while he’s getting most of the attention, McMillan is far from the only rookie who will contribute to the Panthers today as they open the playoffs against the Rams.
In fact, Panthers coach Dave Canales said General Manager Dan Morgan had an exceptional hit rate in this year’s draft, as all eight players the Panthers selected contributed as rookies.
“Dan Morgan, amazing job he’s done evaluating talent, evaluating football character, personal character, and then the ability to help us from a football standpoint,” Canales said. “He and I have constant conversations about how can we get these guys involved because they’re going to have to help us at some point. That’s been true for all of them. They’ve all had to step up and help us.”
Among the rookies Canales mentioned were sixth-round wide receiver Jimmy Horn, second-round pass rusher Nic Scourton and fourth-round safety Lathan Ransom.
“Jimmy Horn’s role has continued to grow. Nic has been out there the whole time. Lathan Ransom growing into different roles and making impacts on special teams. I can go on and on, our entire rookie class,” Canales said.
Canales added that he and his assistant coaches believe in giving rookies opportunities, sometimes even knowing they’re going to make rookie mistakes, because of the long-term benefits of getting young players experience.
“It’s also a staff that’s committed to development, that’s committed to spending all the extra time they need to with these guy sto make sure they’re as ready as possible for game day,” Canales said. “We need them. We need them now, we’ve needed them down the stretch, and certainly in the future. Every mistake that a rookie makes for you early on is an investment in your future, and is an opportunity to learn and to grow and it does pay dividends.”
In addition to having all eight of their draft picks on the 53-player roster, the Panthers have three undrafted rookies as well. They’re loaded with rookies who will see their first playoff action today — and whom the Panthers hope are part of a team that plays in a whole lot of playoff games in the future.
The calendar says January. The weather forecast in Charlotte screams September.
Depending on which unreliable weather forecasting app you rely on (and they all sort of suck these days), there’s a threat of thunderstorms for Saturday’s Rams-Panthers wild-card contest. Which opens the door to the possibility of a delay, before or during the game.
And that could create potential chaos for the NFL.
Rams-Panthers is due to begin at 4:30 p.m. ET, on Fox. Packers-Bears streams on Prime Video at 8:00 p.m. ET. If lightning delays the early game, the NFL says it can slide the late-game kickoff by 10 minutes.
So there’s a chance of two playoff games going on at once, depending on whether and to what extent Rams-Panthers is delayed by Mother Nature. Which could prompt some to utter a different phrase that begins with “muther.”
Especially in Chicago and Milwaukee, where the Packers-Bears game is due to be televised on the Fox affiliate that will be broadcasting Rams-Panthers.
The 2025 Carolina Panthers are making history. And I don’t mean the good kind.
Via NBC Sports research, the Panthers are the fifth team in NFL history to make the playoffs with a losing record in a non-strike-shortened season.
Carolina won the NFC South, winning eight and losing nine. Atlanta’s Week 18 win over the Saints triggered a three-way tie between the Falcons, Panthers, and Buccaneers at 8-9. The Panthers won the tiebreaker with the best record in the six-game round-robin among the three teams.
Other teams to make the playoffs despite a losing record were the 2022 Buccaneers (8-9), the 2020 Washington Football Team (7-9), the 2014 Panthers (7-8-1), and the 2010 Seahawks (7-9). Those teams were 2-2 in the wild-card round; the 2010 Seahawks beat the Saints in the Beastquake game, and the 2014 Panthers beat the Cardinals.
The Panthers are 10.5-point underdogs at home on Saturday against the Rams. During the regular season, the Panthers beat the Rams in Charlotte, despite being 9.5-point underdogs.
