our reactions to playoff game 1

This topic has 20 replies, 8 voices, and was last updated 1 month, 3 weeks ago by zn.

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January 10, 2026 at 7:55 pm #160991

zn
Moderator

That was more nerve racking than I liked. Rams made multiple mistakes and kept letting the Panthers get in it.

But then Nacua turns out to be not only their best WR, he’s their best DB too.

Last minute comeback win on the road. Bottom line: a win’s a win.

January 10, 2026 at 7:56 pm #160993

InvaderRam
Moderator

a win is a win.

after today i’m not too confident they go deep into the playoffs.

hopefully stafford’s hand and fingers are ok.

January 10, 2026 at 7:57 pm #160994

wv
Participant

OMG

w
v

January 10, 2026 at 8:04 pm #160995

Billy_T
Participant

Too close for comfort!

They tested my belief, but I still held on to hope. Put the ball in Stafford’s hands at the end and there’s still a good chance to pull out the victory. Two more to reach the big show!

January 10, 2026 at 8:19 pm #160996

Zooey
Moderator

That will not make my Top 10 list of favorite Rams games. Not even Top 10 favorite playoff games.

I was yelling at McVay to take the FG to make it 20-7. Get the points. Wear them down. He was trying to go for the Kill before halftime, and there is just no need at that point. He ran it less than I would have liked as well, although he finally ran it near the end on the next-to-last drive (I think it was).

Lots of uncharacteristic penalties. Lots of uncharacteristic drops.

Not a good game, but a win is a win, as they say, and it’s better than a loss. A loss today would have gutted me. I couldn’t tolerate being the best team most of the season only to lose to the worst team in the playoffs as 10.5 point favorites, and they came pretty darned close to doing that.

Let’s go GB, I guess.

January 10, 2026 at 8:35 pm #161000

wv
Participant

Defense is just not very good anymore. Chris Shula must have been doing it with smoke and mirrors for a while. 31 against Carolina, 38 against Seattle, 27 against Atlanta, 34 against Detroit, 31 AGAIN against Carolina.

Ah well.

If the DLine is as good at pass-rushing as we think they are — then the secondary must be equally as BAD.

w
v

January 10, 2026 at 8:37 pm #161001

wv
Participant

You know that Parkinson catch — remind anyone a little bit of another great game-winning playoff catch, by a ‘non-star’ ?

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January 10, 2026 at 8:41 pm #161002

wv
Participant

On the punt-block. Who was the idiot who barely chipped the on-coming punt-blocker?

I mean, it was about as lame an attempted block as I’ve seen. WTF?

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v

January 10, 2026 at 8:57 pm #161007

Hram
Participant

Survive and advance

need to cut down on the penalties and we should be OK

January 10, 2026 at 9:02 pm #161009

zn
Moderator

wv wrote:

On the punt-block. Who was the idiot who barely chipped the on-coming punt-blocker?

I mean, it was about as lame an attempted block as I’ve seen. WTF?

w
v

That was #34, Tanner Ingle.

He’s been on the practice squad virtually all year.

Bet he never blocks like that again.

That is, assuming he doesn’t wake up on the streets of Toronto with no ID and nothing but a blanket in his possession and no memory of who he is or where he’s been or what he’s doing there.

January 10, 2026 at 9:04 pm #161010

wv
Participant

zn wrote:

That was #34, Tanner Ingle.

He’s been on the practice squad virtually all year.

Bet he never does that again.

That is, assuming he doesn’t wake up on the streets of Toronto with no ID and nothing but a blanket in his possession and no memory of who he is or where he’s been or what he’s doing there.

Well that was truly embarrassing.

From now on, any lame, embarrassing, WTF-block-attempt will be known as — an Ingle block.

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January 10, 2026 at 9:11 pm #161011

InvaderRam
Moderator

to try and look at more positives. hopefully adams and lake were knocking some rust off. hopefully dotson is available next week. nacua could have played better but still had 125 total yards and two tds. hopefully ingle isn’t playing next week.

i don’t know. that’s all i got.

January 10, 2026 at 9:18 pm #161012

Zooey
Moderator

InvaderRam wrote:

to try and look at more positives. hopefully adams and lake were knocking some rust off. hopefully dotson is available next week. nacua could have played better but still had 125 total yards and two tds. hopefully ingle isn’t playing next week.

i don’t know. that’s all i got.

And hopefully Stafford’s index finger is okay because that bent back pretty far.

January 10, 2026 at 9:20 pm #161013

Zooey
Moderator

wv wrote:

Defense is just not very good anymore. Chris Shula must have been doing it with smoke and mirrors for a while. 31 against Carolina, 38 against Seattle, 27 against Atlanta, 34 against Detroit, 31 AGAIN against Carolina.

Ah well.

If the DLine is as good at pass-rushing as we think they are — then the secondary must be equally as BAD.

w
v

Looking at that list of FAs, I was gonna say maybe Durant was worth keeping, but after the past couple of weeks, I don’t think that anymore.

January 10, 2026 at 9:20 pm #161014

InvaderRam
Moderator

also. another fourth quarter game winning drive for matthew stafford. that puts him tied for eighth all time in the playoffs with roethlisberger, stabler, marino, and fouts.

January 10, 2026 at 9:22 pm #161015

InvaderRam
Moderator

Zooey wrote:

Looking at that list of FAs, I was gonna say maybe Durant was worth keeping, but after the past couple of weeks, I don’t think that anymore.

defensive back has to be a priority this off-season for sure.

January 10, 2026 at 9:32 pm #161016

wv
Participant

InvaderRam wrote:

also. another fourth quarter game winning drive for matthew stafford. that puts him tied for eighth all time in the playoffs with roethlisberger, stabler, marino, and fouts.

Stafford is just ridiculous. Not in a Tom Brady efficient executioner way, or even a Kurt Warner way — He’s like…death blossom.

January 10, 2026 at 9:45 pm #161018

nittany ram
Moderator

The secondary just isn’t very good. At the beginning of the season it seemed like it was, but no longer. Over the last few weeks, teams that don’t have great pass offenses have feasted on them.

Weatherspoon isn’t playing elite football like he had since mid-season last year up until his injury this year. Lake got worked over. Hopefully that’s just rust coming off IR. Forbes and Durant are meh.

If the Rams win the Super Bowl it was because they were able to overcome their secondary. I don’t think there’s much chance of that though.

January 10, 2026 at 11:56 pm #161025

canadaram
Participant

I have zero faith in the secondary. It seems as though Shula doesn’t either. On the Panthers first TD it was just a round of pitch-and-catch because the Rams coverage was so far off the line. The front still can get pressure but they struggle to finish vs. mobile QBs and the dbs just can’t be trusted to hold up with quarterbacks who can extend plays.

After the first quarter it just felt like it wasn’t going to be the Rams day. Stafford smashing his hand and then Puka’s drop at the end of the first seemed like spirit killers. The blocked punt and a key drop by Adams in the 4th also seemed like things from which teams don’t recover. Despite all that the Rams still found a way to win. I said this earlier in the regular season but I was so down on Parkinson after last year and now I love him. I don’t recall having such a significant change of opinion about a Rams player.

Happy the Rams won, but they don’t seem long for these playoffs with this defense. Hopefully Dotson and Ferguson are back next week.

January 11, 2026 at 3:04 am #161028

InvaderRam
Moderator

canadaram wrote:

Hopefully Dotson and Ferguson are back next week.

stafford had his two worst performances against this defense. i remember something about olsen saying about the panthers defense being really good against play action. maybe it was a matchup thing. maybe it was stafford’s hand. maybe a combination of things.

stafford hopefully performs or matches up better with the other defenses. hopefully dotson and ferguson come back and shore up the rushing offense. maybe adams shakes the rust off. maybe lake shakes the rust off and tightens up the pass defense ever so slightly.

i hope?

January 11, 2026 at 3:42 am #161029

zn
Moderator

InvaderRam wrote:

e. i remember something about olsen saying about the panthers defense being really good against play action. maybe it was a matchup thing.

I mentioned this, but their DC is Evero, former Rams secondary coach.

Remember the game that initially exposed the secondary this year was against Carolina. Since then people have been following the same script against the Rams D. He wasn’t just the safties coach, he was the Rams defensive passing game coordinator. You can probably safely assume that Evero had something to do with that–he talked to the Panthers OC.

But also he knows Stafford and McVay. He schemed against them in training camp in 2021, before he left for Denver (then Carolina).

It’s not the only factor but it is a factor.

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