By David Rogers. INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Going without an offensive touchdown rarely earns a win in the NFL. On Oct. 16, the Carolina Panthers’ mostly stagnant offense managed only an early field goal in losing to the Los Angeles Rams, 24-10, at SoFi Stadium.
With the team’s third starting quarterback of the 2022 campaign in P J Walker, who played college ball at Temple and starred with the XFL’s 2020 edition of the Houston Roughnecks, the Panthers repeatedly used check-down and other short passes to star running back Christian McCaffrey, as well as occasional runs by the versatile athlete. Still young at age 26, the former first round pick in 2017 out of Stanford University didn’t disappoint. McCaffrey came into the game tied for the NFL lead with the most consecutive games producing at least 100 scrimmage yards — and kept that string going with 69 yards rushing on 13 carries and 89 yards on 7 pass receptions against the Rams
But no touchdowns for McCaffrey, nor for anyone else on the Panthers’ offensive side of the ball.
The game started promising enough for Carolina, with Walker and McCaffrey leading the offense’s march of 51 yards in 12 plays and taking more than six minutes off the game clock. They didn’t score a touchdown, but got points on the board with a 42-yard Eddie Piniero field goal.
Los Angeles went ahead early in the second quarter with a 5-yard pass from veteran QB Matthew Stafford to wide receiver Allen Robinson II to finish off a 13-play drive that gained 73 yards and took almost 8 minutes off the clock, shrinking the time available for the Panthers’ offensive opportunities.
Carolina’s defense played well for most of the day, none better representative of that than defensive back Donte Jackson’s 30-yard “Pick 6” interception return that, with Piniero’s PAT kick, tied the game at 10-10 going into halftime. And yet, as the time of possession advantage swung the Rams’ way, the Panthers defense began to falter.
The second half belonged solely to the Rams, who scored a field goal (12 plays, 87 yards, 6:46) and touchdown (5 plays, 80 yards, 2:50) in the third quarter, then put an exclamation point on the win with a 4th quarter TD (10 plays, 61 yards, 5:17) and an intercepted pass thrown by the Panthers 4th quarterback of the season, Jacob Eason, recently called up from the practice squad.
The former Georgia and Washington QB has a backhanded relationship with the High Country. He was a five-star recruit with offers from many Power 5 schools before enrolling at Georgia. After a memorable year leading the Bulldogs as a freshman in 2016, Eason started the first game of 2017 against Appalachian State, but injured a knee on an out-of-bounds tackle by Mountaineer defensive tackle Myquon Stout. The backup Georgia QB, freshman Jake Fromm took over the reins of the offense and never relinquished the No. 1 QB role even when Eason returned, so the 6-5, 207 lb. native of Lake Stevens, Wash. returned to his home state, transferring to the University of Washington. After sitting out the requisite year, he played all 13 games for the Huskies in 2019, passing for 23 TDs vs. 8 INTs, before being drafted by the Indianapolis Colts in the 4th round of the 2020 draft.
The Panthers now return to Charlotte for a home game vs. the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who were upset by the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, 20-18, in a game widely predicted to be a landslide win for the Florida team led by future Hall of Fame member, Tom Brady. The Oct. 23 matchup is scheduled for a 1 p.m. kickoff at Bank of America Stadium. Then Carolina goes on the road for consecutive games against the Atlanta Falcons (Oct. 30) and Cincinnati Bengals (Nov. 6).
SELECTED TEAM STATS
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- Total Offense – CAR 203, LAR 360
- Yards Passing – CAR 110, LAR 249
- Yards Rushing – CAR 93, LAR 111
- Red Zone – CAR 0-1, LAR 3-4
- Penalties – CAR 3-30, LAR 7-49
- Turnovers, INTs – CAR 1, LAR 1
- Time of Possession – CAR 22:55, LAR 37:05
SELECTED INDIVIDUAL STATS
Passing
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- LAR Matthew Stafford 26/33, 252 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT
- CAR P J Walker 10/16, 60 yards
- CAR Jacob Eason 3/5, 59 yards, 1 INT
Rushing
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- CAR Christian McCaffrey 13 carries, 69 yards
- LAR Darrell Henderson, Jr. 12 carries, 43 yards, 1 TD
- CAR D’Onta Foreman 5 carries, 19 yards
- LAR Ben Skowronek 1 carry, 17 yards, 1 TD
- LAR Cooper Kupp 2 carries, 17 yards
- LAR Malcolm Brown 7 carries, 15 yards
Receiving
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- CAR Christian McCaffrey 7 catches, 89 yards
- LAR Cooper Kupp 7 catches, 80 yards
- LAR Allen Robinson II 5 catches, 53 yards, 1 TD
- LAR Ben Skowronek 5 catches, 40 yards
Defensive Highlights
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- CAR Donte Jackson, 1 INT, 1 TD
- CAR Cory Littleton, 0.5 QB sack, 10 tackles
- CAR Derrick Brown 0.5 QB sack, 7 tackles
- CAR Shaq Thompson 2 tackles for loss, 5 tackles
- LAR Nick Scott, 1 INT
- LAR Jalen Ramsey, 1 QB sack
- LAR Marquise Copeland, 1 QB sack
