NFL Wildcard Preview: Rams @ Panthers

Zak Drapeau
38 minutes ago
3 min read

by Zak Drapeau

1/8/2026

Sportz Nation

Photo by Grant Halverson/ The Los Angeles Times

After a crazy situation that saw the Panthers lose the Wildcard game that win it back just a day later as 3 teams tied for the NFC South crown, the Panthers won it by a series of tiebreakers and earned a Home Playoff game.

Coming to Carolina will be the 5th-seeded Rams who were one of the best teams all season but couldn't win the NFC West division even with a 12-5 record. Being one of the best teams in the league didn't do them much good as they will likely be in a road game for every game this postseason.

Speaking of road games, even though the 12-5 Rams are favored over the 8-9 Panthers, the fact that the Rams have to travel all the way to Charlotte, North Carolina is a HUGE factor this weekend. Not only because of the 2,431 miles between the two but because the Panthers actually beat the Rams this season in Carolina only 6 weeks ago.

Game Preview

The Rams will look to score and score often in this game behind their high-powered offense led by possible-MVP Matthew Stafford. Along with Puka Nacua, the Rams have been able to throw the ball all over most teams they've faced this season while being backed up by a great ground game thanks to Kyren Williams.

The Rams' receiving core is solid but they also have quite a few players on the injury report this week. Tight Ends Terence Ferguson and Tyler Higbee are both questionable with hamstring and ankle injuries along with WR Jordan Whittington with a knee injury.

For the Panthers, their season has been an inconsistent mess. They beat the Rams one week then lose to the Saints at home. They shut out the Falcons one week then get blown out by the Patriots.

The perfect metaphor for their season has been their own Quarterback Bryce Young, who at times has looked like an All-Pro but has also looked like a scrub in other games. Young is helped by the likely Rookie of the Year Tetairoa McMillan who has had a terrific season at WR for the Panthers with 70 catches for 1,014 yards and 7 TDs.

The Panthers have also benefited from one of the most out-of-nowhere resurrections this year in Rico Dowdle. Brought in as a perennial backup from Dallas, Dowdle would have 5 games in a row in the middle of the season where he would run for 650 yards on almost 6.5 yards per carry while helping the Panthers go 4-1 in those games.

Since Dowdle came back to Earth in the last 8 games of the season, the Panthers went 3-5 and look like a different team.

My Predictions

For this game, I'm going to predict a Rams win. The 10-5 point spread in favor of the Panthers is a bit too high for me but realistically, I can see the Rams blowing them out and covering.

As far as the Over/Under of 46.5 is concerned, I would take the Under. I see this game ending somewhere around a 24-14 score being that it's a playoff game and I believe both defenses will come to play. Aside from a likely bad game with turnovers from Bryce Young, I could see this game being pretty competitive.