Wild Card Weekend opens with a rematch of one of the most surprising results of the 2025 regular season, as the Los Angeles Rams return to Charlotte to face the Carolina Panthers.
The first meeting, back in Week 13, sent shockwaves through the league. The Rams arrived at Bank of America Stadium riding a six-game winning streak and sporting a 9-2 record, with five of those victories coming by double digits. Carolina, at 6-6, had shown improvement from a year earlier but was not viewed as a true contender after a prime-time loss in San Francisco.
That afternoon, however, the Panthers delivered their most impressive performance since the Cam Newton era. They harassed Matthew Stafford into two interceptions, including a pick-six, and piled up 164 rushing yards in a 31-28 upset. The win, combined with help elsewhere in the NFC South, propelled Carolina to an improbable division title. For the Rams, it marked the start of a late-season slide that dropped them from potential No. 1 seed to the wild-card round.
Los Angeles enters the rematch healthier on offense. The Rams went 3-3 down the stretch, a stretch that included an overtime loss to Seattle and a stunning defeat against Atlanta. In both games, the absence of veteran wide receiver Davante Adams loomed large. Adams aggravated a hamstring injury in a Week 14 win over Detroit but is set to return Saturday.
His presence restores one of Stafford’s most trusted red-zone options, Adams led the NFL with 14 receiving touchdowns despite missing three games, and reunites one of the league’s top receiver duos alongside Puka Nacua. Carolina’s secondary, led by Pro Bowl corner Jaycee Horn and ball-hawking Mike Jackson, limited Adams and Nacua in the first meeting, but the Panthers must also contend with a Rams run game featuring Kyren Williams and Blake Corum. That balance could prove challenging for a Carolina defense that allowed 123.3 rushing yards per game during the season.
The spotlight will also fall on Bryce Young, who will make his playoff debut opposite Stafford. The matchup pits two former No. 1 overall picks at very different stages of their careers. Stafford, selected in 2009, remains among the league’s elite quarterbacks, while Young, the top pick in 2023, is still establishing himself as Carolina’s long-term answer.
In his second season under head coach Dave Canales, Young posted career highs in touchdown passes, completion percentage, yards per game and passer rating. While those numbers don’t suggest a quarterback built for shootouts, Young has built a reputation for late-game heroics. Since entering the league, he has produced 12 game-winning drives in the fourth quarter or overtime, including six this season. That clutch ability was on display in the Week 13 upset, when he capped a game-winning drive with a 43-yard strike to Tetairoa McMillan. Carolina has been at its best when leaning on its running backs, but production on the ground has waned since that Rams game, adding pressure on Young to deliver again.
Despite the earlier result, the Rams remain heavy favorites. Los Angeles led the NFL in scoring at 30.5 points per game and finished with the league’s second-best point differential. Carolina, by contrast, reached the postseason at 8-9, becoming just the fifth team with a losing record to do so in a full season, and posted one of the worst point differentials ever for a playoff team. History is stacked against the Panthers, but franchise precedent offers hope.
Carolina has pulled off playoff upsets before, including its 2014 win over Arizona as a 7-8-1 division champion. Canales, now in his second season as head coach, was also on Pete Carroll’s staff when the 7-9 Seahawks stunned the defending champion Saints in the famed Beast Quake game. His aggressive mindset paid dividends in the first meeting with the Rams, when Carolina converted all three fourth-down attempts, two for touchdowns, generating one of the most efficient fourth-down performances in recent years. If the Panthers are to spring another surprise, that same fearless approach will likely be required once again.
