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The 2-0 Carolina Panthers will play host to the 2-0 St. Louis Rams this week in a game that features two of the dominate teams from last seasons NFC Playoffs. The Rams were knocked out of the playoffs with a wildcard round loss to the Seattle Seahawks. The Panthers met the same fate when playing the Seahawks in the NFC Championship Game.
Both teams come into this game with the same styles of offense. Todd Gurley has started the season off strong for the Rams with 214 yards rushing, while Jonathan Stewart is leading the Panthers with 201 yards rushing on the season. Both teams will be looking for a huge day from both of these running backs to keep their perfect seasons alive.
The Panthers and Rams have met each other 20 times (including 1 postseason game), with the Carolina Panthers winning 12 games and the St. Louis Rams winning 8 games. The most historic game that these two teams played was a double overtime game in the 03-04 NFC Divisional Round Playoffs. The Panthers walked away from that game with a 29-23 victory on a slant pass to Steve Smith that would jump start the Panthers to their only Superbowl appearance as a franchise.
There last meeting was a turning point in the Rams season as the Panthers hit Sam Bradford as he was going out of bounds and tore his ACL. The game got more emotional as defensive end Chris Long ejected after he threw a punch at a Panthers player in the third quarter.
Words were exchanged between the sides after a routine play, but something was said to incite a fight between the sides. Long and wide receiver Steve Smith were at the center of the scuffle, with a punch being thrown by Long resulting in him being escorted from the field.
We are all getting very exited for this game and can't wait to see if it can live up to the hype of the past meetings. Not only is this a very important game early in the season, it could be setting up a preview of what is waiting for us come playoff time.