Panthers vs Rams game review: Ready for the moment

At this point, there is not much left to be said that describes the up and down nature of the Carolina Panthers 2025 season.

By almost any metric, any point of view, any anything – the Panthers should not have won this game. The Los Angeles Rams came in Sunday looking like the most formidable team in the NFL. A juggernaut with a chokehold on the top spot on most power rankings. Coming in to face a floundering Panthers squad that was down arguably 2 of their best 3 defensive players in Jaycee Horn and Tre’Von Moehrig. Not to mention a number of key starters and backups along the linebacking corps and offensive line.

But like all football fans know, the game is not played on spreadsheets or injury reports but on the field. And on the field, anything can happen. Every game has 5 or 6 plays that the whole contest boils down to. High leverage, do-or-die moments or opportunities where the outcomes define the story of the contest.

For the Panthers, they have to capitalize on these moments. When you are a massive underdog facing a talent and likely even schematic disadvantage, your winning conditions rely on coming up big in these moments. On Sunday, it looks like the Panthers knew this fact and came ready to make the most of them.

For this week’s game review, let’s take a look at the 5 moments that even a slightly different outcome may have prevented Sweet Caroline from ringing through Bank of America.

Nick Scott gets the glory, but if not for Derrick Brown’s behemoth sized skull he would have never gotten the opportunity. Brown’s consistent knack for making contact with the football at the line of scrimmage is perhaps his most underrated trait. On most occasions, Browns spikes the ball into the dirt with authority, but this time Brown got his head in the game and was able to have the ball bounce fortuitously into Scott’s hands. A play that likely took 7 points off the scoreboard and snapped Ram’s quarterback Matthew Stafford’s NFL record for consecutive touchdowns without an interception.

Down 4 points in the 3rd quarter, the Panthers took a chance on 4th and 3 from 34 yards out. Jalen Coker, who had not yet scored a single touchdown the entire season was lined up as the X receiver against press with a cornerback who has been playing at pro bowl caliber in recent weeks. Coker got vertical and provided a target for Bryce Young to toss it up.

Instead of taking something just past the sticks, Young and Dave Canales decided to go for it all on a match-up they liked. It paid off and instead of a turnover on downs, the Panthers took the lead. NFL’s next gen stats gave the play a less than 30% chance of completion. The execution had to be perfect between Young and Coker, but the second year undrafted rookie proved once again that he may be the teams most consistent pass catcher.

If Coker is considered to be the most consistent, McMillan is probably the best at about every other category. At the very least, he’s the most dynamic receiver and that was never made more clear than on McMillan’s sole reception of the afternoon – a 43 yard touchdown on 4th and 2. Young started the play looking everywhere else but McMillan, but as the clock kept ticking but the pass protection holding firm, Young caught a glimpse of a 1-on-1 matchup with his best receiver. Young layered the throw perfectly, 30 yards down the field, leading McMillan into open space and a unimpeded path to the endzone. In the past, plays like this had gone not made. An overthrow by Young, a drop by McMillan, a stray arm at the line of scrimmage to knock it down. But on 4th and 2, in the pouring rain, likely one of the most difficult attempted touch throws of Young’s career with the game hanging in the balance – the duo delivered. Progress, glorious progress.

This might be the biggest play of the game, potentially even the whole season for the Panthers. Stafford has only thrown 3 interceptions the entire season, and one of them was mentioned earlier and only happened due to a lucky bounce off a helmet. This play however, had layers. Stafford had rarely been inaccurate this season, not even needing his eyes to hit his target in many cases. But in this moment, his throw was off by a margin of inches to the inside. Just enough to give the well-studied Mike Jackson, who by his own admission expected the route the whole way due to hours of preparation before the game, a chance to beat one of the best and toughest receivers in the NFL to the football and take it back 45 yards the other way to the endzone. If the ball just gets knocked down it’s 3rd down and who knows that the Rams explosive offense does from there.

Special players make special plays in special situations. Make no mistake, Derrick Brown is as special as they come. If the conversation for the best defensive tackle in the NFL does not include Brown’s name, you’re talking to the wrong people. Kudos to the rest of the line for executing a perfect pass rush plan coordinated between the entire front half, but Brown’s strength and hustle proved too much for the veteran quarterback to escape from. The Rams were set-up well to at least get a field goal if all else failed. Brown’s ability to do just enough to affect Stafford’s arm to jar the ball loose was the difference between a notch in the win column or a tied game against a perceived powerhouse if the Rams make their kick on 4th down.

Right now, the Panthers are good enough to beat any team and bad enough to look embarrassing against the rest. Frustrating as it may be, it’s been a long time since the Panthers were in the “can compete with anyone” stage of a rebuild. Reaching that stage is a feat on it’s own. The Panthers have a bye week next week, so we’ll see you back here in two weeks once we see which version of the Panthers makes an appearance versus the New Orleans Saints. Until then, keep pounding.