2) Young takes center stage in playoff debut
Saturday features a game between two former No. 1 overall picks with one (Matthew Stafford, 2009) in the hunt for his first-career MVP award, while the other (Bryce Young, 2023) still looks to cement himself as the franchise QB in Carolina. Young has shown promise in his second year under head coach Dave Canales, hitting career bests in TDs (23), completion percentage (63.6), yards per game (188.2) and rating (87.8). While those numbers are solid, they don’t speak to a QB destined to win a shootout with one of the best signal-callers in the league. One thing Young has established, though, is his penchant for clutch play. Young boasts 12 game-winning drives in the fourth quarter/OT since entering the league in 2023 (most in the NFL). This season, Young led six such drives, trailing only the Broncos’ Bo Nix, and his fourth-quarter prowess was instrumental in the Panthers’ takedown of L.A. at the end of November when he put together a game-winning drive capped by a 43-yard strike to Offensive Rookie of the Year favorite Tetairoa McMillan. The Panthers have been at their best this season when leaning on their RB duo of Rico Dowdle and Chuba Hubbard, but their run game has tapered off since Week 13 with no back topping 60 yards in a game since then. Heading into a key offseason during which the Panthers will decide on his fifth-year option, Young will have the chance to make a statement in his first playoff game.
3) Can HC Dave Canales channel 2010 Seahawks?
There’s no denying it. The Rams are heavy favorites to advance to the Divisional Round despite their previous slip up in Charlotte, North Carolina. Los Angeles boasts the league’s No. 1 scoring offense (30.5 points per game) and had the second-best point differential (+172) behind the top-seeded Seahawks. Carolina by comparison is the fifth team to enter the postseason with a losing record at 8-9 (not counting strike-shortened seasons) and their -69 point differential is the fourth-worst for a playoff team in league history. The last time a team with eight or fewer wins to beat a team with 12 or more wins in the playoffs was when the Tim Tebow-led Broncos shocked the Steelers in the 2011 Wild Card Round. But the Panthers have history with upsets in the postseason. The 2014 Panthers at 7-8-1 beat the 11-5 Cardinals, and second-year head coach Dave Canales was part of Pete Carroll’s staff when the 7-9 Seahawks stunned the defending Super Bowl champion Saints in the famous BeastQuake game. Canales saw success in an aggressive approach in their first matchup against the Rams. The Panthers were 3 of 3 with two TDs from Young on fourth-down tries that Sunday, totaling +13.4 EPA on fourth down (the most in the league in the past four seasons, per Next Gen Stats). That type of approach will be paramount if Carolina wants to pull off another upset.
