Just six weeks after the Carolina Panthers stunned the Los Angeles Rams 31-28 at Bank of America Stadium, the two teams will meet again at the same venue in the NFC Wild Card round.
Despite Carolina holding a head-to-head victory, one NFL executive told The Athletic’s Jeff Howe they “can’t imagine the Panthers” doing it against the Rams a second time.
This is not an uncommon opinion to have, as the Rams-Panthers matchup has the biggest spread of any wild card matchup. Los Angeles, despite playing on the road, is favored by 10.5 points.
The Panthers have a fascinating playoff resume as the NFC South champion with an 8-9 record. They lost three of their last four games and backed into the postseason by virtue of a three-way tiebreaker after the Atlanta Falcons defeated the New Orleans Saints in Week 18.
Per NFL researcher Tony Holzman-Escareno, the Panthers’ minus-69 point differential is the fourth-worst of any team to make the playoffs. If you are looking for a reason to be optimistic about Carolina’s chances, the three teams that had a worse scoring margin all won their first playoff game.
Carolina’s two best wins are against the Rams in Week 13 and Green Bay Packers in Week 9 when they were arguably the two best teams in the NFC at the time those games were played.
There were plenty of smoke and mirrors that worked in Carolina’s favor in the first game against the Rams.
Matthew Stafford committed three turnovers (two interceptions, lost fumble), two of which were returned for touchdowns by Carolina’s defense. His third turnover came on a strip sack on the Rams final offensive possession after they had already driven deep into Panthers territory to at least attempt the game-tying field goal.
The Rams are just 3-3 in their last six games, including two losses against NFC South opponents (Panthers, Falcons). Stafford is prone to having turnover issues at times, with three of his eight interceptions this season coming in the Week 17 loss to Atlanta.
It’s not impossible to envision a scenario in which the Panthers win, but it would certainly be one of the most surprising playoff upsets in recent memory.
The Panthers can prove all of the doubters wrong when they host the Rams on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. ET in the first playoff game in Carolina since the 2015 NFC Championship Game.