In Week 13 the Carolina Panthers shocked the world with their upset of the then 9-2 Los Angeles Rams. Our first iteration of an interview with a Rams blogger barely accounted for the possibility of a Panthers win, let alone a playoff rematch. Look at us now. Recent history aside, however, expectations going into tomorrow’s game against the Rams are quite similar to their first meeting. The Rams are seen as a true Super Bowl contender and are only traveling to visit the much weaker—at least on paper—Panthers
due to a quirk in playoff seeding.
So, where does that leave us this week? Read on for the Rams perspective on that question and more:
What was the fan reaction to the first time the Panthers upset the Rams this season? Do you expect that reaction to be different when it happens a second time?
HA! If it happens a second time, fans on our site might just go nuclear.
The fan reaction wasn’t anything too crazy when it happened. A lot of them seemed more concerned about Matthew Stafford’s MVP case taking a significant hit, rather than being upset over the loss. In all fairness, that concern was warranted since that was when you saw the media beginning to shift from Stafford as the favorite to Drake Maye. Many fans also felt that the loss was something that needed to happen. At the time, the Rams were viewed as the league’s best team in a wide-open NFL campaign. They were dominating just about everyone they had encountered in that span, and then the Panthers took the air out of their sails. L.A. needed to be reminded that they could lose at any time and they weren’t unbeatable. While that wake-up call might not have stuck as much as it should’ve, fans could stomach it if it meant a return to their dominant ways.
Jokes aside, it is has been a long five weeks of football since the Week 13 meeting. The Panthers hit a bye-week immediately after and then went 1-3 down the stretch despite getting healthier over that time. How have the Los Angeles Rams changed as a team since their loss to the Panthers?
The Rams didn’t fare that much better, all things considered, going 3-2 since the Carolina debacle. Following the loss, L.A. won back-to-back games over the Cardinals and Lions, scoring at least 41 points in those matchups. Then, the Rams suffered a two-game losing streak, first to the Seahawks, which ended all hope of earning the number one seed in the NFC and repeating as NFC West champions, and followed that up with another Stafford three-turnover performance in a loss to the Falcons on Monday Night Football. The Seattle loss was especially frustrating because the team completely gave it away after going up 30-14. Given the stakes on the line, there was zero excuse for such a meltdown. Los Angeles has had the Seahawks’ number and picked the worst possible time to lose to them.
Their season finale against the Cardinals was also ugly, though they won it after pulling away in the fourth quarter. A three-win Cardinals team gave L.A. their all for much of the game, quite concerning since the Rams had beaten them by 28 on the road just weeks before. The Rams have been on shaky ground for a while since losing to the Panthers, though I won’t give Carolina the satisfaction of being the team that “broke” them … yet.
Stafford struggled to pass without turning the ball over against a Panthers secondary that was without Pro Bowl corner Jaycee Horn. Horn is back and the entire Panthers secondary is looking healthy heading into Saturday. Do you expect the Rams to run a more conservative offensive game plan to try to limit those mistakes from happening again?
I don’t see Horn returning doing much to alter the Rams’ offensive plans. That’s no disrespect to him at all, but the team has been aggressive and powerful on offense for much of the year, so they’ll let Matthew Stafford continue doing what he’s been doing this entire season.
Last time these two played, Los Angeles was able to move the ball quite well on the Panthers, but Stafford lost them the game with his turnovers, plain and simple. Even then, he was having moderate success through the air until the interceptions did him in. I attribute Stafford’s struggles to simply a bad game, which he was overdue for. All great quarterbacks have bad games, and after that interception-less streak he had going on entering the game, eventually mistakes were going to catch up to him. That is just how life is in the NFL.
The run game should play a prominent role again, as Kyren Williams and second-year back Blake Corum combined for 153 yards in the first matchup. When that duo’s on, there’s very little stopping this offense. Plus, tight end Tyler Higbee is back for this one, which should make the offense even better. Stafford has every reason to trust his supporting cast, and they’ll be aggressive despite past history. He’s gotten them this far, and Sean McVay’s trust in him is perhaps the highest it’s ever been during their time together in Hollywood. They have no reason not to be aggressive.
The Panthers are finally also getting healthier along the offensive line and are expecting to lean into an extremely run heavy game plan (if they know what’s good for them). How healthy and successful is the Rams’ running defense expected to be on Saturday?
The Rams should be pretty healthy along the defensive line, though it might not seem to matter how healthy they are, given their slight struggles against the run in recent weeks.
After having a top 10 run defense for much of the year, L.A.’s run defense crumbled against the Seahawks and Falcons to end the regular season, giving up 171 yards and 219 on the ground, respectively. During that two-game stretch, the defense gave up a 55-yard touchdown to Kenneth Walker and a 93-yard rushing touchdown to Bijan Robinson. This was after the Rams had bottled up the likes of Jonathan Taylor, Christian McCaffrey (twice), Jahmyr Gibbs and Saquon Barkley this season. Of course right after that mini losing streak, they held Arizona’s ground game in check. There’s nothing impressive about that because the Cardinals have zero threat at running back. However, it was important for the Rams to put up a good effort there to get back on track.
I expect them to be much better against the run this time around against the Panthers so they know more of what to expect. Take away the run and Bryce Young will not pose a threat whatsoever. Chris Shula will dare Young to make him beat the Rams through the air.
Everyone is picking the Rams to win this game and they probably will. We get that. What do you think a second Rams loss to the Panthers this season would look like?
I think a second Rams loss to the Panthers would look similar to the first, and that’s shooting themselves in the foot. It’s fair to say that no team has beaten the Rams more this season in losses than themselves.
In losses to the Eagles and Seahawks, they blew sizable leads, and killer mistakes doomed them down the stretch. Matthew Stafford was a turnover machine in losses to the Panthers and Falcons, with the latter effectively ending his MVP chances. Then, L.A. got off to a slow start in their first bout with Mac Jones and the 49ers and were unable to win because of it.
This is undoubtedly a championship team that should’ve been the NFC’s top seed if not for blunders that prevented it from happening. It was clearly not meant to be for the Rams this season in terms of that, and they made sure of it.
