The Los Angeles Rams went into Sunday’s game against the Carolina Panthers as one of the biggest favorites of the weekend. But instead, they suffered a 31-28 loss to drop to 9-3 and into a first place tie in the NFC. Matthew Stafford threw two interceptions — one returned for a touchdown — and had a late fumble to seal the game for the Panthers.
Stafford had turned the ball over only two times all season — two picks — prior to Sunday. He was on a clear MVP trajectory before the losing effort, and still is considered one of the favorites despite the three-turnover day, showing just how far ahead he was in the race.
And the veteran star quarterback was quick to hold himself accountable for the losing effort, saying it’s something he plans to quickly clean up to keep the Rams on track this season, via Wyatt Miller of TheRams.com:
“We’re not going to win a whole lot of games when I turn it over three times and it hasn’t been an issue and I don’t expect it to be moving forward.”
One of the mistakes that didn’t show up on the main stat sheet was Stafford taking a delay of game on third-and-five late in the fourth quarter. He would then fumble on third-and-10 to ice the game for Carolina:
“I can’t take that (delay of game). That’s on nobody but me. I just gotta get that thing off. I thought I had enough time and I thought I was gonna be snapping it kind of right at one/zero (seconds on the play clock), and I gotta go look at it, but I thought I did a good enough job, but I did not.”
Games are rarely won and lost based on the mistakes of one single player. Despite his three turnovers, the Rams still very much had a chance to win this game and were 17 yards away from a go-ahead touchdown when the delay of game occured.
But it’s on the quarterback — or any team leader — to take accountability in situations like these. And Stafford was quick to do so, the way he always has when the Rams come up short.
L.A. now gets to reset before their Week 14 matchup against the Arizona Cardinals on the road.
Sean McVay excited to see how Rams respond
The Rams had their six-game winning streak snapped with the stunning loss to the Panthers on Sunday.
The Rams were big favorites in the game and looked solid out of the gate, but the Panthers seemingly had an answer for every score and capitalized on a few uncharacteristic mistakes made by L.A.
Stafford turned the ball over three times, including a pick-six and tipped interception in the end zone, along with a fumble in the fourth quarter.
Even though they came up short against the Panthers, head coach Sean McVay still has high hopes for the Rams and is excited to see how they answer back.
