The Los Angeles Rams saw their six-game winning streak come to a painful end in a 31-28 loss to the Carolina Panthers. Los Angeles went into Sunday having a slight lead on the NFC’s top seed, and saw it disappear in the span of an afternoon. Their path to the number one seed only got harder because of the loss.
It’s time to get into the good, the bad and the ugly from the Rams’ disappointing loss.
The Good
Puka Nacua and Davante Adams dynamic duo
Puka Nacua and Davante Adams were among the few players who bothered to show up against Carolina.
Nacua made a pair of absolutely insane catches near the end of the game, including a one-hander that might be the catch of the year.
Adams added 2 more touchdown receptions, extending his league-leading total to 14. The veteran wideout has been a touchdown machine these last few weeks, and has 117 touchdown receptions in his career, passing Antonio Gates. He is four scores (and seven years ago) away from tying soon-to-be Hall of Famer Larry Fitzgerald for sixth-most all-time.
The Nacua-Adams duo combined for 10 receptions for 130 yards and 2 touchdowns on 14 targets. Very rarely has this pairing disappointed this season, and they did everything possible to almost snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. It just wasn’t meant to be this week for the rest of the team.
Run game also played well
I gave the Puka Nacua and Davante Adams duo plenty of love, so time to do the same for Kyren Williams and Blake Corum.
The pair had 153 rushing yards and a touchdown apiece. Corum led the team in rushing with 81 yards on 7 carries, and also ran in a 2-yard score that put the Rams up 21-17 before halftime.
McVay has done well lately in giving the Michigan product more carries. It’s clear he’s a dynamic back and brings a lot to the offense to complement Williams.
Rams needed this
Controversial opinion, I know. So how is a loss good, you say?
There was some chatter in the NFL world, or at least on this site, that the Rams were possibly peaking too fast. Sometimes teams in years past that have gotten hot in the middle of the season wind up slumping down the stretch and suffer an early playoff exit.
Four of the Rams’ last five games entering Week 13 had been blowouts. In my mind, the team was due for a setback or two in the second half of the year.
Don’t get me wrong, the loss was a bad one for Sean McVay’s group. With big matchups with the Lions and Seahawks looming, it’s probably a good thing they got a bad loss out of their system now before it happens too late in the season. Take the time to work out the kinks, and they’ll be just fine in the long run.
The Bad
Emmanuel Forbes was experiencing a resurgence over the last month. All those good vibes he’s generated disappeared on two plays against the Panthers.
Forbes was in coverage on Jalen Coker’s 33-yard touchdown to put Carolina up 24-21 in the third quarter. As if that wasn’t bad enough already, he was the primary defender on Tetairoa McMillan’s game-winning 43-yard touchdown — his lone catch of the game.
The Rams had better hope this was just one terrible game from Forbes, and not a sign of things to come. L.A. cannot afford for him to revert to his old form.
The Ugly
Matthew Stafford might’ve put his MVP chances in jeopardy
Matthew Stafford didn’t have any turnovers in his previous five games, including zero interceptions since the Eagles game. Against the Panthers, Stafford had three turnovers, with the most mind-numbing coming on the Rams’ final offensive possession when Derrick Brown stripped him.
That play coughed up any chance Los Angeles had at a comeback. Earlier in the game, Stafford threw a pick-six which put his team in a hole that they were forced to make up as the game went on.
Not everything Stafford did in Charlotte was bad. In fact, he broke the NFL record for throwing 28 touchdowns without an interception, yet was picked off on the following drive.
This isn’t the time to panic, as Stafford’s MVP chances aren’t dead, not in the slightest. However, he was one of the main contributors to the Rams’ loss. If he hopes to win top honors this season, he must return to the efficient, lethal passer he’s been for much of the year, and not the MVP for the opposing team.
Defense cost L.A. the game
Look, Stafford sucked on Sunday and picked a bad time to play his worst game of the season. Yet, the defense was the main culprit for the loss.
So the defense is supposed to be top-tier, right? Then, why is it that they allowed Bryce Young to throw for his third-highest yardage output of the season? This was the same guy who had thrown for under 200 yards in nine games in 2025. Young also threw 3 touchdown passes for the third time this year, the others coming against the Cardinals and Cowboys, teams that do not possess an elite defense like L.A.
That alone was inexcusable, and don’t get me started on the run D.
While Los Angeles didn’t give up a 100-yard rusher, they still allowed the Panthers to run for 164 yards. Carolina ran the ball 40 times. It was pretty obvious to everyone but the Rams that they were going to run. The yardage was the most L.A. had given up since the Ravens game (179 yards).
Also, the Panthers finished 7-of-15 on third down after converting only once on third down against the 49ers on Monday night. Allowing two touchdowns on fourth down didn’t help things either.
It was a rough game for one of the NFL’s top defenses. Similar to Stafford, the D had a bad afternoon, but hope is not lost on them. The Rams’ first two losses were due to shooting themselves in the foot. That was pretty much the story in Charlotte.
No troubling trends seemed to pop up in this one, so the team figures to retain its status as one of the league’s best.
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