Tag: Lathan Ransom

December football in the NFL can be dramatic and wonderful, but Carolina Panthers fans have almost forgotten that over the past eight seasons.

Since 2017, the Panthers haven’t made the playoffs. Since 2017, we’ve usually been talking about NFL Draft position and holiday plans by the time we get to December. But on Sunday, as the Panthers edged Tampa Bay, 23-20, in a gripping cliffhanger, we saw what the end of the season can look like when the home team is still in the fight.

Carolina (8-7) took control of the NFC South over Tampa Bay (7-8) Sunday by getting some inspired play from quarterback Bryce Young and rookie safety Lathan Ransom. Young made one big play after another and led a winning field-goal drive deep in the fourth quarter; Ransom picked off Tampa Bay quarterback Baker Mayfield to clinch the game.

As Panthers head coach Dave Canales said of Ransom’s interception at the Carolina 30 with 42 seconds left and the Bucs trying to tie or win the game: “We got one, and it was the right one.”

This victory wasn’t enough, though. While this felt like a milestone game for a Panthers fan base that has been so often disappointed since the team’s last playoff appearance back when Cam Newton was the quarterback and Luke Kuechly patrolled the middle, there is still work to be done.

Carolina now can win the NFC South — and the accompanying first-round home playoff game in mid-January — one of two ways:

1) Carolina beats Seattle (12-3) and Tampa Bay loses to Miami (6-9) on Dec. 28.

Or, if there is any other outcome next Sunday …

2) Carolina must beat Tampa Bay again, but this time in Florida, in the Week 18 season finale.

So this isn’t done by any means, but that doesn’t detract from what a game Sunday was. This stadium has seen louder crowds over the years, and even this season has had some comparable ones. But for the past several seasons, we’ve never seen quite the same combination of game significance and fan buy-in.

“Shout-out to the fans,” Panthers defensive lineman Derrick Brown said. “That sh– was rocking in here today. … Lot of black and blue, less of red than I’ve seen before.”

Or as Canales put it: “It was electric. Bank of America Stadium was a special place. Black towels waving. All black uniforms. The whole thing. It felt right. It felt exactly right.”

It didn’t feel right the entire day — this was a back-and-forth game that included five lead changes. Young was huge for Carolina, playing a turnover-free game and finding Tetairoa McMillan for a 22-yard score just before halftime and JT Sanders with a 6-yard, third-quarter TD that sounds pedestrian but was his best six seconds of the game. Young skipped out of a near-certain sack by two Bucs, kept the play alive and located Sanders in the back of the end zone. Canales called that Houdini act “miraculous.”

And Young was doing that on a gimpy right ankle — the same one he keeps re-injuring. This time it came due to friendly fire, as right guard Austin Corbett stepped on Young while Young took a snap from center and tried to drop back.

Corbett was funny and apologetic about this afterward. When I asked him if he knew immediately he had stepped on Young, he said he had.

“Felt bad,” Corbett said. “Not great. A lot of ‘goshdangits’ and ‘oh shoots.’ But I checked on him. He’s a tough son of a gun, and I’ll buy him dinner here for an apology. … Everybody when he was coming out (of Alabama) is just like: ‘How’s he gonna be able to handle these hits?’ And unfortunately, you don’t plan for a size 17 from your own guy stepping on you. But he’s tough. And just — I’m sorry, Bryce.”

Young said afterward when asked about the injury: “We’re all playing through something this time of the year.”

As for the game itself, in which Young led the Panthers to yet another game-winning march keyed by his 34-yard dime to Jalen Coker on Carolina’s last march, followed by a 48-yard field goal with 2:20 left from rookie kicker Ryan Fitzgerald: “Moments like that, it’s like where else would you rather be?”

It was Young’s 12th career game-winning drive, the most in the NFL since 2023 and the second-most by a QB under age 25. Only Justin Herbert, with 13, has more.

It was also Fitzgerald’s fourth game-winning kick of the season; his role in the Panthers’ surprising season is significant, as it has been for a number of other rookies — Ransom, McMillan and edge rusher Nic Scourton among them.

Said Young: “That rookie wall that people talk about, you don’t see that from our guys.”

The Panthers lost a game in very similar circumstances last week at New Orleans. But this time they came out ahead in a field goal game thanks to Ransom — called for a critical 15-yard penalty for unnecessary roughness in the fourth quarter last week that helped set up a Saints game-winning field goal — intercepting Mayfield’s final pass of the day.

“I understand that the game is not won or lost by one play,” Ransom said, “but people behind their phones are going to have their own opinions. I just heard all the noise — listened to it and used it as fuel for this game.”

It was the first time the Panthers had beaten Mayfield as the opposing QB — he had been 5-0. On the play, a good rush got Mayfield on the move, and he made the sort of throw he frequently did during his inept stint with the Panthers — behind his receiver at an important moment.

At Tampa Bay, Mayfield hasn’t been inept at all. He’s been … well … ept. But in this game he was held to 145 yards passing. He hurt the Panthers mostly with his legs (49 yards rushing) but not enough to keep Tampa Bay from losing for the sixth time in the past seven games.

Said Mayfield: “Too many penalties on offense today. Just keep shooting ourselves in the foot and got to finish with seven in the red zone instead of three. Same story, different day.”

For the Panthers, though, this is a different story — similar to one told long ago, but nearly forgotten given the years that have passed.

Carolina’s fans have aged since that last playoff berth. But they were forgiving of their team Sunday, for this was one for the ages.

This story was originally published December 21, 2025 at 7:21 PM.