Colby Parkinson's touchdown with 38 seconds to play silenced the Carolina Panthers crowd as the Los Angeles Rams escaped with a 34-31 victory to advance to the Divisional Round of the NFL playoffs on Saturday.Â
The Panthers battled back valiantly in the face of ominous early Rams dominance as they fought from 14-0 down to lead 31-27 with 2.39 remaining thanks to Jalen Coker's go-ahead touchdown.
But Sean McVay's side would shelve their second-half struggles by way of Matthew Stafford's 19-yard strike to tight end Parkinson, who did superbly to high-point his quarterback's pass at the sideline before swivelling, keeping both feet inbounds and reaching for the end zone.
Extinguished was the electricity of a crowd that dared to believe their team was on the brink of its first playoff win in a decade, having scraped into the postseason as 8-9 NFC South champions.
Puka Nacua found the end zone twice for the Rams and accounted for 111 of Stafford's 304 yards, while Coker registered a career-best nine catches for 134 of Bryce Young's 264 yards alongside two rushing touchdowns from Chuba Hubbard.
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Hubbard gave the Panthers their first lead of the game when he punched in a three-yard touchdown run in the opening seconds of the fourth quarter.
Back came All-Pro Stafford on the following possession to navigate an 11-play drive culminating in Kyren Williams' 13-yard touchdown catch to make it 27-24.
The Rams defense subsequently forced a three-and-out before another twist ensued when Isaiah Simmons blocked Ethan Evans' punt to set the Panthers up at the 30-yard line.
It paved the way for Young to float an expertly-weighted seven-yard touchdown pass into the arms of Coker four plays later, lifting the Panthers to a 31-27 lead with 2.39 left and igniting a hopeful spike in crowd noise.
Stafford's reply would see to dampening as much when a 71-yard march ended in his perfectly-placed scoring strike to Parkinson, who evaded Tre'von Moehrig to cross the goalline.
Carolina had one last chance to salvage the game only for Jimmy Horn to drop a fourth-and-10 pass from Young as the Rams held on for the win.
One-way traffic had threatened a premature conclusion when McVay's side cruised to a two-touchdown lead with 12.16 remaining in the first half after two Panthers turnovers.
The Rams opened with a fourth-down stop on the Panthers' opening drive, before Stafford punished by connecting with Nacua for a 14-yard touchdown. Nacua then doubled up to make it 14-0 with a five-yard run in the wake of Cobie Durant's interception.
Carolina reduced the deficit to 17-14 at the break following Hubbard's one-yard rushing touchdown and a 16-yard scramble to the house by Young.
Nacua could have been in again before half-time but dropped a pass along the right sideline.
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