Matthew Stafford goes ‘gangster’ on Panthers in wild-card playoff win

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Matthew Stafford is a first-team All-Pro and a favorite to win the NFL most valuable player award.

He’s also an acknowledged soul-stealer and heart-snatcher.

No ballots required.

Stafford proved it again Saturday at Bank of America Stadium. In the moments before Stafford took the field with 2 minutes 34 seconds left in an NFC wild-card game against the Carolina Panthers, he made a casual comment to receiver Davante Adams.

“Let’s go snatch these guys’ hearts,” Stafford said.

Stafford then delivered a trademark drive that ended with a touchdown pass to tight end Colby Parkinson, giving the Rams a dramatic 34-31 victory.

“I’ve been in that spot a lot in my life,” Stafford, a 17th-year pro, said of relishing last-minute opportunities. “Brings a smile to my face because I like being there.”

Stafford has made a career of engineering comebacks. So we’ve seen and heard this act before.

Saturday’s performance and his comment to Adams harked to the 2021 season, and a divisional-round victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, when Stafford put together a winning drive in 42 seconds.

Stafford said after that game that he lived for those moments and, of course, would have preferred to be ahead and take a knee to close the game.

“But it’s a whole lot more fun when you got to make a play like that to win the game and just steal somebody’s soul,” he famously added.

So there it is. Again. The soul-stealing, heart-snatching Stafford.

Adams, a 12th-year pro in his first season with the Rams, said it was “pretty cold” to hear Stafford’s message and he smiled at it.

Rams tight end Colby Parkinson celebrates after making a 19-yard touchdown catch in front of Carolina safety Tre’von Moehrig in the final minute of the Rams’ 34-31 win Saturday.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

“It was like one of the most gangster things you could say in that moment,” Adams said. “To hear him say that, and the look on his face, and then to throw that touchdown and then the look on his face after that was just like MVP stuff.”

For much of the game Stafford did not look like the player who led the NFL in passing yards and touchdown passes. He completed his first seven passes but then had one of his fingers bent backward when his throwing hand hit the helmet of a Panthers player.

Stafford, who is expected to undergo tests on his finger Sunday, finished 24 for 42 for 304 yards and tossed touchdowns to Puka Nacua, Kyren Williams and Parkinson. Stafford had one pass intercepted and it could have been two had Nacua not prevented the pick.

Stafford at one point missed on seven consecutive passes, the longest such streak of his playoff career. But during the decisive drive he completed six of seven attempts.

His performance down the stretch enabled the Rams to outlast the Panthers and advance to the divisional round. The Rams won’t know their opponent until Sunday’s wild-card games are complete, but they probably need the time to breathe a sigh of relief.

Because they committed numerous blunders and penalties and wasted several opportunities that gave the Panthers — a team that went into a home playoff game as a 10½-point underdog — plenty of chances to pull off an upset that would have ranked as perhaps the worst loss in coach Sean McVay’s nine seasons.

Instead, McVay will lead his team into the divisional round for the fifth time in nine seasons.

Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford walks off the field after a 34-31 playoff win over the Panthers on Saturday.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

“Grateful to have another week with this team that I love,” McVay said.

There was plenty to like.

Nacua also ran for a touchdown and caught 10 passes for 111 yards. Adams, playing for the first time since sustaining a hamstring injury in Week 15, caught five passes for 72 yards.

Harrison Mevis kicked two field goals, Cobie Durant intercepted a pass that Quentin Lake tipped, and Braden Fiske and Poona Ford had sacks for a defense that gave Stafford and the offense a final chance to win the game and avenge a Nov. 30 loss to the Panthers.

In that game Stafford had two passes intercepted — one that was returned for a touchdown — lost a fumble and was responsible for a critical delay-of-game penalty late in the fourth quarter.

On Saturday the Rams led 17-14 at halftime, but late in the third quarter, Carolina’s Mike Jackson intercepted a Stafford pass, and Bryce Young led a touchdown drive that gave the Panthers a 24-20 lead.

Williams’ touchdown put the Rams back in the lead with 8:47 left in the game, but the Panthers blocked a punt with about four minutes left, and Young passed for a touchdown and a 31-27 lead with 2:39 left.

That set the stage for Stafford.

In last season’s divisional-round defeat at Philadelphia, Stafford had a chance to win the game in the end but could not close the deal.

Rams running back Kyren Williams, right, celebrates with wide receiver Xavier Smith after scoring a touchdown in the fourth quarter Saturday.

(Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times)

Apparently there was no doubt among Rams players that he would come through Saturday.

“I swear to you I looked up at the clock and I said, ‘Are you serious?’” defensive lineman Kobie Turner said. “I don’t know if you’ve heard of No. 9, but if you leave 2 minutes and 34 seconds left with three timeouts, No. 9 is going to do his thing.

“I mean there was never a doubt.”

Not in tight end Tyler Higbee’s mind.

“Anytime you got 9 leading the charge and Sean McVay calling plays,” he said, “I don’t have any doubt.”

Neither does Nacua.

“Never a doubt,” he said. “No. 9’s with us.”

With the ball at the Rams’ 29-yard line, Stafford came off the sideline with Adams and wasted no time. Stafford completed a pass to Nacua, two to Adams and another to Nacua as the Rams advanced to the Panthers’ 30. Stafford’s next pass fell incomplete, but he connected with rookie Konata Mumpfield before finding Parkinson for a 19-yard touchdown with 38 seconds left, the tight end pulling in the pass as it sailed toward the sideline, twisting and falling into the end zone.

“I knew it was going to have to be a back-shoulder ball,” Parkinson said, “and Matthew placed it perfectly.”

The Rams’ defense ended the game by forcing the Panthers to turn over the ball on downs.

“Just happy to do my part there at the end,” Stafford said.

With a soul-stealing, heart-snatching smile.