{"id":128619,"date":"2026-01-11T01:57:27","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T01:57:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/128619\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T01:57:27","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T01:57:27","slug":"matthew-stafford-leads-rams-comeback-in-playoff-win-over-panthers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/128619\/","title":{"rendered":"Matthew Stafford leads Rams comeback in playoff win over Panthers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

CHARLOTTE, N.C.\u00a0\u2014\u00a0There\u2019s a reason Matthew Stafford<\/a> is the favorite to win his first most valuable player award.<\/p>\n

The Rams<\/a> quarterback, a 17th-year pro, produced his finest statistical season, leading the NFL in passing yards and touchdown passes.<\/p>\n

But Stafford is mainly known for engineering comebacks. And he did it again Saturday when the Rams needed it most.<\/p>\n

Stafford\u2019s 19-yard touchdown pass<\/a> to tight end Colby Parkinson with 38 seconds left gave the Rams a 34-31 victory<\/a> over the Carolina Panthers in an NFC wild-card game at Bank of America Stadium.<\/p>\n

It was far from easy, but the Rams outlasted the Panthers to advance to the divisional round. They won\u2019t know their opponent until Sunday\u2019s wild-card games are complete, but they probably need the time to breathe a sigh of relief.<\/p>\n

\"Rams <\/p>\n

Rams tight end Colby Parkinson celebrates after making a 19-yard touchdown catch in front of Carolina safety Tre\u2019von Moehrig in the final minute of the Rams\u2019 34-31 win Saturday.<\/p>\n

(Eric Thayer \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

On a night when he struggled after his throwing hand hit the helmet of a Panthers player, Stafford harked to the 2021 season, when he brought the Rams back several times in the playoffs en route to a Super Bowl title.<\/p>\n

Stafford completed 24 of 42 passes for 304 yards and tossed touchdown passes to Puka Nacua, Kyren Williams and Parkinson. He had one pass intercepted.<\/p>\n

Stafford at one point missed on seven consecutive attempts, the longest such streak during his playoff career. But on the decisive drive he completed six of seven passes.<\/p>\n

Nacua also ran for a touchdown and caught 10 passes for 111 yards. Davante Adams, playing for the first time since suffering a hamstring injury in Week 15, caught five passes for 72 yards.<\/p>\n

Harrison Mevis kicked two field goals and Cobie Durant intercepted a pass for the defense.<\/p>\n

The Rams went into Saturday\u2019s game as 10\u00bd-point favorites over a Panthers team that won the lowly NFC South with an 8-9 record.<\/p>\n

But the Rams had to overcome numerous missed opportunities to avenge their Nov. 30 loss here, a 31-28 defeat that ended the Rams\u2019 six-game winning streak and knocked them out of the No. 1 seed.<\/p>\n

In that game Stafford had two passes intercepted, one that was returned for a touchdown, lost a fumble and was responsible for a critical delay-of-game penalty.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, Stafford completed his first seven passes but thereafter struggled, especially after hurting his throwing hand.<\/p>\n

\"Rams <\/p>\n

Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford walks off the field after a 34-31 playoff win over the Panthers on Saturday.<\/p>\n

(Eric Thayer \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

The Rams also failed to capitalize on numerous opportunities. They could not capitalize after recovering a muffed punt return in the second quarter, and the Panthers responded with a touchdown drive.<\/p>\n

Near the end of the first half, Nacua was wide open down the right sideline for a touchdown that would have increased the Rams\u2019 lead to 10 points. But the ball bounced off Nacua\u2019s hands and fell incomplete, one of numerous drops by the Rams.<\/p>\n

The Rams led 17-14 at halftime on Nacua\u2019s 14-yard touchdown catch and five-yard touchdown run and Mevis\u2019 46-yard field goal.<\/p>\n

But the Rams should have been in better control after taking a 14-0 lead on Nacua\u2019s scoring plays.<\/p>\n

They were ahead 17-7 late in the second quarter when they were forced to punt. Trevor Etienne of the Panthers muffed the catch, and Rams linebacker Troy Reeder recovered the ball for the Rams.<\/p>\n

The offense, however, could not convert the miscue into points. Earlier, coach Sean McVay\u2019s decision to kick a field goal rather than going for it on fourth down paid off. This time, with just more than 90 seconds left in the first half, he went for it on fourth and three at the Panthers\u2019 19-yard line.<\/p>\n

\"Rams <\/p>\n

Rams running back Kyren Williams, right, celebrates with wide receiver Xavier Smith after scoring a touchdown in the fourth quarter Saturday.<\/p>\n

(Eric Thayer\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Stafford\u2019s pass under pressure to tight end Tyler Higbee fell incomplete, giving the Panthers a chance to cut the deficit.<\/p>\n

Quarterback Bryce Young moved the Panthers 81 yards in 54 seconds and pulled them to within three points with a 16-yard touchdown run.<\/p>\n

The Rams had a chance to score again, but Nacua dropped Stafford\u2019s pass. It didn\u2019t get better after the break.<\/p>\n

The Rams ran three plays \u2014 all incomplete passes intended for Adams \u2014 and the Panthers engineered a seven-minute drive before Ryan Fitzgerald kicked a field goal that tied the score.<\/p>\n

On the ensuing possession, Adams went to the medical tent after being hit by Panthers safety Nick Scott, who was penalized for unnecessary roughness. Mevis\u2019 46-yard field goal put the Rams back in the lead.<\/p>\n

But late in the third quarter, Carolina\u2019s Mike Jackson intercepted a Stafford pass, and Young then connected with Jalen Coker for a 52-yard catch that set up Chuba Hubbard\u2019s three-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter that gave the Panthers a 24-20 lead.<\/p>\n

Williams\u2019 13-yard touchdown reception put the Rams back in the lead with less than nine minutes left. But the Panthers blocked a punt with about four minutes left, and Young found Coker for a seven-yard touchdown that gave the Panthers a 31-27 lead with 2:39 left.<\/p>\n

That set the stage for Stafford.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHARLOTTE, N.C.\u00a0\u2014\u00a0There\u2019s a reason Matthew Stafford is the favorite to win his first most valuable player award. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":128620,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[10834,30313,423,27622,48,52,51,5814,47,50,49,43965,1417,10948,66334,9018,29443,315,3373,1539,20967],"class_list":["post-128619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-davante-adams","tag-field-goal","tag-game","tag-harrison-mevis","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-lead","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-panthers","tag-point","tag-puka-nacua","tag-rams-comeback","tag-second","tag-stafford","tag-time","tag-touchdown-pass","tag-yard","tag-young"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128619"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128619\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}