Five things to know about Panthers’ playoff opponent: Rams return to Carolina
The Carolina Panthers and Los Angeles Rams will clash in a Week 13 rematch during the wild-card round of the 2026 NFL playoffs.
Carolina will host Los Angeles at Bank of America Stadium on Saturday (4:30 p.m. on FOX) in what will be the Panthers’ first home playoff game since 2015. During their last outing in November, the Panthers upset the Rams, 31-28, in a home win before the bye week.
The Rams are an early 10.5-point favorite in the wild-card game.
They come to town with a better regular-season record (12-5) than the Panthers (8-9), but they’ll still need to travel across the country to face off against process blue crew because the Seattle Seahawks (14-3) won the NFC West.
Here are five things to know about the Panthers’ wild-card round opponent:
1. Matthew Stafford is a clear-cut MVP candidate
Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford has been a prolific passer this season. The 37-year-old signal-caller threw for a league-leading 46 touchdowns and 4,707 yards during the 2025 regular-season campaign. And while he threw two picks against Carolina in Week 13, he only ended up with eight interceptions on the year.
Stafford has impeccable chemistry with his two top receivers: Puka Nacua and Davante Adams. While Adams has been sidelined with a hamstring injury for three games, Stafford and Adams still connected on 14 touchdowns — along with 789 yards — in 14 games. Nacua, a Pro Bowl selection, finished the regular season with an eye-opening 129 catches (top total in the NFL) for 1,715 yards and 10 touchdowns.
Stafford is also very good at moving in the pocket to avoid sacks. He was taken down just 23 times in 2025.
2. Kyren Williams is among the NFL’s best RBs
The Rams are dangerous on offense because they have a legitimate balance between the passing game and the rushing attack. Kyren Williams is coming off his third consecutive regular season with at least 1,100 rushing yards and 10 rushing touchdowns.
Williams isn’t a burner, but he picks up yardage by the chunks. He’s tough to bring down, and he’s elusive because of his ability to shift gears in small spaces.
Williams finished 2025 with 1,533 scrimmage yards and 13 total touchdowns. He shouldn’t be slept on in the passing game either, as he’s produced eight receiving touchdowns over the past three seasons.
Backup running back Blake Corum is also quite impactful as a runner. He collected 746 rushing yards and six touchdowns on the year.
3. The defense is fine, but mistakes will cost you
With the offense averaging 30.5 points per game, the Rams’ defense doesn’t necessarily need to be the vaunted 1985 Chicago Bears defense to have success. But Los Angeles’ other unit is good enough.
Los Angeles allowed 20.4 points per game in 2025. While the group has been somewhat shaky down the stretch, it’s still doing well enough to help the offense get the ball back for big plays.
The defense finished the season with 16 interceptions (one more than the Panthers’ defense). The group also produced 47 sacks (17 more than Carolina).
The Panthers will need to protect quarterback Bryce Young. And he will need to protect the football.
4. LA isn’t particularly great on the road
Like most teams, the Rams prefer their home base. They went 7-1 at home in 2025.
But the road matchups have been a different story. In nine road games, the Rams went 5-4, including the three-point loss to the Panthers on Mint Street in November.
The Rams have lost three of their past four road games. And three of their five total losses have come on East Coast trips to Philadelphia, Carolina and Atlanta.
It’s also worth noting that seven of Stafford’s eight interceptions came on the road this season.
5. Carolina leads all-time series vs. the Rams
The Panthers are 14-10 against the Rams in their all-time series.
The two squads have met just once in the playoffs, which resulted in a 29-23 double-overtime divisional-round win for the Panthers in St. Louis on Jan. 10, 2004.
The two teams have met just four times since the Rams moved back from St. Louis to Los Angeles in 2016. They’ve split those matchups at 2-2 each.
Since their lone playoff matchup, the Panthers have won seven of the past 10 matchups between the two teams.
This story was originally published January 5, 2026 at 5:00 AM.
