LOS ANGELES — These aren’t the young Rams of 2023, with 40 rookies in training camp and little idea of what to expect from the NFL. They aren’t even the 2024 Rams anymore, a group that was still developing its identity in real time.
As they prepare for their playoff opener on Saturday at the fourth-seeded Carolina Panthers, the fifth-seeded Rams are something different in 2025. Confident in who they are, and their roles within the collective. Seasoned by past experiences, including two playoff losses that came down to the final moments.
Or, to use a word of art from head coach Sean McVay, “calloused.”
“So much of our team is returning and we’ve gone through those bumps and bruises together,” defensive tackle Kobie Turner said. “I’m excited to see how that translates into the ball that we play and how seriously and how grateful we are for every single snap, every single down, every single second that we have of this journey.”
Turner was part of that 2023 draft class, the first in what Rams general manager Les Snead deemed a “remodel” a year after the team’s Super Bowl LVI title. A class that includes five starters in Saturday’s wild-card game – Turner, receiver Puka Nacua, left guard Steve Avila, right tackle Warren McClendon and outside backer Byron Young.
That group, alongside stalwarts like Matthew Stafford, Rob Havenstein and Tyler Higbee and 2023 breakouts Kyren Williams, Quentin Lake and Alaric Jackson, lost to the Detroit Lions by one point in their first playoff game as a team. The offense had to live with being unable to reach the end zone in the second half, the defense with not recording the stop necessary to get the ball back to the offense in the closing minutes.
“It can’t be silly mistakes when it comes to knowing what you’re supposed to do and how to do it. I feel like those good teams do it all the time,” Avila said. “They did what they had to do, and that’s what it takes.”
Another strong draft class and undrafted free-agent crop headlined by Jared Verse in 2024 filled out the defense. That blend of players yielded the team’s first playoff victory, a trouncing of the Minnesota Vikings in the wake of a turbulent week of wildfires in Los Angeles.
But against a Philadelphia Eagles team that humbled the Rams earlier in the season, the defense gave up too many explosives and the offense couldn’t convert a fourth down in the red zone with 26 seconds to play in a six-point loss.
“Having the experience of two super close losses to knock us out of the playoffs, it lets you know every single play is important,” Turner said. “You can never overlook any individual moment. You have to be so locked in on your keys.”
Moments in this 12-5 campaign have reinforced these lessons, including a 31-28 loss to these very Panthers six weeks ago.
The offense’s learning moments are pretty cut and clean. Can’t allow three turnovers. A couple were fluky, like a strip-sack and an interception in the end zone deflected by a defender’s face mask.
The defense’s are a little more varied. Carolina was able to play bully ball against the Rams, running for 164 yards at a 4.1-per-carry clip. That allowed the Panthers to shorten the game and possess the ball for 10 minutes and 32 seconds longer than the Rams, whose defenders this week admitted to being knocked off the line of scrimmage this week by the Carolina run blockers.
“When I turn on that tape, and I’m just like, ‘Man, that’s not our brand of ball,’” Turner said. “I’m disgusted with some of the stuff that I personally did. So when you have the opportunity to go back and make it right, man, it’s exciting.”
And the Panthers extended drives with three conversions on three fourth-down attempts. That wasn’t specific to Carolina’s gameplan for the Rams; the Panthers go for it on fourth down at the highest rate in the NFL. And that won’t change now in the Panthers’ first playoff game in seven years.
“It’s a war, anything goes, whatever it takes is what is going to be required,” Turner added.
But these Rams are the same team from a year or two ago. They are more ready for these moments, these challenges, with the battle scars to prove it.
“I think that we’ve been calloused from the 17 games that we’ve had to understand, what does it look like when we’re at our best?” McVay asked. “How do we try to be able to mimic and emulate that when we get these precious opportunities knowing that the enemy does have a say? This week will offer an opportunity for us to go swing.”
NFC WILD CARD: RAMS at CAROLINA PANTHERS
When: 1:30 p.m. PT Saturday
Where: Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, N.C.
TV/Radio: FOX (Ch. 11)/710 AM; 93.1 FM; 1330 AM (Spanish); Sirius 225, 226