2) Young is at center in his first playoff game
Saturday features a matchup between two former No. 1 overall picks with one (Matthew Stafford, 2009) seeking his first career MVP award, while the other (Bryce Young, 2023) still looks to establish himself as Carolina’s QB. Young has shown promise in his second year under head coach Dave Canales, posting 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 shootouts 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 fourth quarter/OT game-winning drives since entering the league in 2023 (most in the NFL). This season, Young led six such drives, second only to the Broncos’ Bo Nix, and his fourth-quarter prowess was instrumental in the Panthers’ upset of LA in late November when he set up the game-winning 43-yarder to Rookie of the Year favorite Tetairoa McMillan. The Panthers have been at their best this season leaning on their RB duo of Rico Dowdle and Chuba Hubbard, but their running game has declined since Week 13 and no quarterback has topped 60 yards in a game since then. Heading into a pivotal season where the Panthers will make a decision on their fifth-year draft pick, Young will have a chance to make a statement in his first playoff game.
3) Can HC Dave Canales stop the 2010 Seahawks?
There is no denying that. The rams are heavy favorites to advance to the divisional playoffs despite their earlier slump in Charlotte, North Carolina. Los Angeles boasts the league’s No. 1 scoring offense (30.5 points per game) and had the second-best scoring margin (+172) behind the top-ranked Seahawks. Carolina, by comparison, is the fifth team to enter the postseason with a losing record at 8-9 (not including 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 beat a team with 12 or more wins in the playoffs was when the Tim Tebow-led Broncos beat the Steelers in the 2011 Wild Card round. But the Panthers have a history of postseason upsets. The 2014 7-8-1 Panthers defeated 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 his aggressive approach in his first matchup against the Rams. The Panthers were 3-of-3 with two TDs from Young on fourth-down attempts that Sunday, totaling a +13.4 EPA on fourth down (the most in the league over the past four seasons, according to Next Generation Stats). Such an approach will be key if Karolína wants to pull off another upset.