The Los Angeles Rams officially clinched the No. 5 seed in the NFC playoffs with their 37-20 win over the Arizona Cardinals and the Seattle Seahawks defeating the San Francisco 49ers on Saturday night.
The Rams will officially take on the Carolina Panthers in the Wild Card Round, who won the NFC South after the Atlanta Falcons defeated the New Orleans Saints on Sunday.
Had the Rams lost to the Cardinals or if the 49ers won the NFC West, they would’ve been locked into the No. 6 seed and a first-round matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles.
The Rams will instead begin the playoffs with a much more favorable game against the Panthers despite falling to them not too long ago in Week 13. Matthew Stafford had a three costly turnovers in that game and L.A. struggled to stop the run, so there will be a revenge aspect surrounding this rematch.
The Panthers are the only playoff team to finish with a sub .500-record (8-9) and have struggled over the last month, losing three of their last four games since defeating the Rams.
It’s worth noting that the Panthers are considerably better at home, so the Rams can’t take them lightly if they want to advance to the Divisional Round.
L.A. hasn’t exactly played well themselves as they dropped three of their last six games to fall out of contention for the NFC West title and No. 1 seed.
Fortunately for the Rams, they should be getting some reinforcements as Davante Adams, Quentin Lake, Kevin Dotson, Alaric Jackson and Tyler Higbee are all expected to return against the Panthers.
Even though the Rams finished 12-5, they will be on the road in the first round as only division winners get to host Wild Card games.
Rams & NFC Playoff Bracket
No. 1 seed Seattle Seahawks: Bye
No. 2 seed Chicago Bears host No. 7 seed Green Bay Packers
No. 3 seed Philadelphia Eagles host No. 6 seed San Francisco 49ers
No. 4 seed Carolina Panthers host No. 5 seed Los Angeles Rams
Rams vs. Panthers schedule and TV info
The Rams and Panthers will play the first game of the weekend on Saturday, Jan. 10 at 1:30 p.m. PT on Fox.
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