Matthew Stafford owns up to his mistakes in Rams’ loss to Panthers
CHARLOTTE, North Carolina — Calm down.
Humility, as Sean McVay likes to say, is just a day away. And the Rams experienced it on Sunday.
McVay, quarterback Matthew Stafford and the Rams defense were all humiliated in a 31-28 loss to the Carolina Panthers in front of 71,292 at Bank of America Stadium.
Stafford’s stellar, MVP-caliber play ended with two interceptions — his first since September — a crucial delay-of-game penalty and a lost fumble.
Panthers quarterback Bryce Young cut through the Rams secondary for three touchdown passes, and the running backs broke through what had been a mostly impenetrable defense.
-
Share via
Gary Klein explains what went wrong for the Rams in Sunday’s 31-28 loss to the Carolina Panthers.
But it wasn’t a collapse. It was expensive but not disastrous.
Yes, the Rams’ six-game winning streak is over. Their record fell to 9-3. They no longer hold the No. 1 seed in the NFC.
But it’s the NFL. Great players abound. Parity rules.
It happens.
The defeat tarnished the Rams’ record. But no team, not even the Miami Dolphins, undefeated in 1972, was able to meet its schedule.
The Rams lost a chance to extend their longest winning streak since 2018, when they won their first eight games and finished 13-3 en route to the first of their two Super Bowl appearances under McVay.
But they remain Super Bowl contenders. And neither McVay nor his players seemed to be sweating after this loss.
“There’s never a good story without a little adversity,” McVay said, running his fingers through his rain-soaked hair.
McVay has been saying all week that the red-hot Rams will drown out the noise after pundits declared them Super Bowl favorites. He doubled down after the game, saying the Rams didn’t take the Panthers lightly.
“I don’t believe it for a second,” he said.
Neither do his players.
Byron Young, Edge’s edge rusher, described the loss as a “humiliating experience.”
“I don’t see it as a bad thing,” he said. “I look at it as just motivation.”
That’s how the Rams will use him, receiver Davante Adams said.
Rams receiver Puka Nacua makes a spectacular one-handed catch in front of Carolina Panthers cornerback Mike Jackson in the second half Sunday.
(Nell Redmond/Associated Press)
“I don’t think anyone here was riding high like we were an invincible team,” said Adams, who caught two touchdown passes to bring his league-leading total to 14. “Obviously, that’s the way it is when you have a string of wins.
“But we didn’t necessarily need to be humiliated or anything like that.”
Since their early losses to the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles and the San Francisco 49ers, the Rams have been rolling. If the offense didn’t score, the defense took over. While the defense struggled, Stafford and his impeccable play produced victories.
But Stafford’s two touchdown passes and touchdowns from Blake Corum and Kyren Williams weren’t enough against a Panthers team that improved to 7-6.
“Nobody saved the day today,” Adams said.
Stafford blamed himself for the mistakes. On the day he passed Matt Ryan for eighth place on the NFL’s all-time passing yardage list, Stafford’s streak of eight consecutive games without an interception ended.
“We’re not going to win many games if I turn the ball over three times,” he said. “And it hasn’t been a problem and I don’t expect it to move forward.”
The first interception came late in the first quarter on a third-down play at the Panthers’ eight-yard line. Lineman Derrick Brown threw a pass and former Rams safety Nick Scott grabbed the ball in the end zone.
It was the first time since the Week 3 loss at Philadelphia that a Stafford pass was caught. He had thrown an NFL record 28 touchdown passes between interceptions.
“They did a good job of raising their hands,” Stafford said.
Two passes later, Panthers safety Mike Jackson scooped one up and returned it 48 yards for a touchdown.
“I can’t leave the ball inside and give them seven on that one,” Stafford said.
Stafford’s biggest and most unusual mistake came late in the fourth quarter with the Rams trailing 31-28. On third-and-5 from the Panthers’ 17, officials ruled that the Rams failed to get a snap before the game clock expired.
“This doesn’t concern anyone but me,” Stafford said. “I just have to take this thing off.”
On the next play, Brown sacked Stafford and stripped him of the ball. The Panthers recovered the fumble with 2:25 left and ran out the clock.
“It’s been a long time since we felt like this,” McVay said.
Almost two months to be exact. The Rams bounced back from their Oct. 2 loss to the 49ers and climbed to their fleeting spot atop the NFC, now occupied by the Chicago Bears.
“We’ve faced adversity before,” McVay said. “We’ll come back to that.”
Next Sunday, the Rams will face the 3-9 Arizona Cardinals in Glendale, Arizona. They will finish with a home game against the Detroit Lions, a Thursday night game in Seattle, a road trip to Atlanta and a home game against the Cardinals.
The Rams intend to react as they did after their last defeat. And ride humbly into the playoffs.
