CHARLOTTE, N.C. — If not for the heroics of one Matthew Stafford, we’d have had a very a different conversation about the Rams on Saturday night.
Because for a while there at Bank of America Stadium, it looked like the Rams were about to squander a two-touchdown lead for the third time this season. And that special teams were about to play a role in a fourth loss, one this time that would have ended the Rams’ season.
Instead, Stafford and head coach Sean McVay orchestrated the seven-play touchdown drive that gave the Rams a 34-31 victory over the Carolina Panthers, advancing them to the NFC’s divisional round of the playoffs to face either the Seattle Seahawks or Chicago Bears next weekend. So the Rams got Saturday night to enjoy a playoff victory, which is still a playoff victory no matter how it occurs.
But when the team reconvenes in Woodland Hills this week, there will be much to clean up if the Rams want to keep this run going.
“I think you be honest about it,” McVay said Saturday night. “I’m so grateful to be able to have the learning opportunities in spite of us being able to win this game because we are going to need to be able to play if we expect to be able to advance past this round.”
Let’s start with the special teams, an area that has plagued the Rams so much this year that McVay made his first in-season coaching change when he fired coordinator Chase Blackburn after Week 16. This time around, it wasn’t a field goal block or miss, or a punt return for a touchdown, but rather a blocked punt.
With 4:18 to play and the Rams holding onto a three-point lead, the Panthers overloaded the right side of the Rams’ punt protection. But the block came from the opposite side as safety Tanner Ingle tried to chip Carolina’s Isaiah Simmons and get downfield into coverage.
But his block did little to move Simmons off his trajectory, and his blocked punt set Carolina up at the Rams 30. Four plays later, quarterback Bryce Young had thrown the go-ahead touchdown.
On previous punts in the game, the Panthers had not been as aggressive in trying to block the punt, the edge rusher taking two steps before turning around to block for the returner. Perhaps this gave Ingle a false sense of comfort.
What are less explicable are the nine penalties the Rams — the least penalized team in the NFL this season — drew on Saturday, a season high that cost them 83 yards.
The first was a third-down defensive pass interference in the end zone in which corner Cobie Durant failed to turn his head to look for the ball. A fresh set of downs at the one was all the Panthers needed for a Chuba Hubbard touchdown run.
Back-to-back pre-snap penalties by receivers Davante Adams and Xavier Smith on the next drive could be chalked up to the crowd noise impacting the Rams offense. An illegal block on left guard Steve Avila led to a first-and-20 situation that ended with a turnover on downs on fourth-and-three.
A defensive pass interference worth 28 yards by safety Quentin Lake at the end of the second quarter gave the Panthers the green light to be aggressive and score a touchdown before the break. And an offsides penalty by defensive end Braden Fiske on third-and-five gave the Panthers a fresh set of downs on a drive that ended in a game-tying field goal.
A taunting penalty on a kickoff by defensive lineman Desjuan Johnson let the Panthers start a drive at their own 46. An unnecessary roughness penalty on linebacker Nate Landman in which he led with the crown of his helmet gave the Panthers first-and-goal at the Rams 3. Hubbard would again score a play later.
Then a holding call on right guard Justin Dedich turned second-and-three into first-and-20. When the Rams failed to convert, Simmons blocked Ethan Evans’ punt.
So, to recap, nine penalties on nine different players, either directly leading to or at least contributing to all 31 of Carolina’s points.
“There were some things that we’ve got to be able to clean up because we have been a team that typically hasn’t had those flags,” McVay said. “You can’t have personal fouls that advances them after kickoffs. There were a lot of instances where we have to be more poised. It’s a reflection of me, I have to do a better job of creating that clarity.”
While the special teams issues have been characteristic of the Rams this year, the penalties have not been. But as McVay said, the Rams need to eliminate both before they can advance again this postseason.