Rams Fall to Panthers, 13-10Myles Simmons
Largely unable to get anything going, Los Angeles had a rough day offensively and fell to the Panthers, 13-10. The Rams have now lost four games in a row, and are 3-5 on the season.
The Rams had a chance to begin the game with a lead, but kicker Greg Zuerlein’s 55-yard field goal attempt banged off the right upright and was no good.
While defensive tackle Cam Thomas recorded his first sack of the year to end Carolina’s first drive near midfield, the Panthers successfully leveraged their field position. The visitors downed Andy Lee’s punt at Los Angeles’ three-yard line, and the Rams’ offense could not get anything going with a three-and-out.
L.A. downed Hekker’s punt at Carolina’s 47-yard line, but it didn’t take long for Newton to drive the Panthers deep into Rams territory. While Newton’s arm was certainly effective in completing passes to wideouts Ted Ginn Jr. and Kelvin Benjamin. But Newton’s six-yard run on a quarterback power on 3rd-and-4 from the Rams’ 20 kept the drive alive.
A couple plays later, Newton found an open tight end Greg Olesn over the middle for a nine-yard scoring strike, giving Carolina a 7-0 lead.
The rest of the first half was filled with tough sledding for both sides — including a Eugene Sims sack on Newton — and each team missed a field goal. The Rams’ offense ended the first half having gained only seven first downs, and had an average gain of just 4.6 yards per play. The club was also 2-of-8 in third-down efficiency.
Quarterback Case Keenum finished the first half 9-of-19 passing for 112 yards. And running back Todd Gurley has 10 carries for 35 yards. The Rams’ longest play of the first half was a pass from Keenum to rookie tight end Tyler Higbee that went for 31 yards.
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