Rams lose cool, Bradford, and game

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. • In order, the Rams lost the football, their cool, their defensive end, their quarterback, and the game Sunday at Bank of America Stadium. Other than that, everything went swell for St. Louis in a 30-15 loss to a very beat-able Carolina.

Two early turnovers dug the Rams (3-4) into a hole they couldn’t get out of. Defensive end Chris Long was ejected in the third quarter, throwing a punch during a brawl. There was much pushing and shoving throughout the game, with the Rams usually on the short end of a retaliatory action.

And the worst blow of the day came when quarterback Sam Bradford suffered a left knee injury with about 5 minutes remaining in the game.

Bradford was scrambling toward the sideline and was pushed out of bounds from behind by Carolina safety Mike Mitchell. Bradford's legs got pinned under him as he ran out of bounds; he had to be helped up, and then supported as he limped to a cart.

His left knee was placed in an immobilizing brace before he was driven to the locker room. Kellen Clemens replaced him at quarterback.

Coach Jeff Fisher said in his postgame news conference that Bradford would undergo an MRI exam once the team returned to St. Louis on Sunday night, but that he didn't know the extent of the injury.

"He went down and couldn't come back in the game," Fisher said. "I'm not going to speculate. I'm not going to deal with hypotheticals now until I really found out what's going on with the injury.

"It makes no sense to rush to a conclusion until we know. We'll get a medical (report) and then go from there. He was in significant pain on the sideline."

Bradford was wearing a left knee brace at the time of the injury, so that possible could lessen the severity of the injury. "Any time we're in pads our quarterbacks wear braces on their left knee."

(For right-handed throwing quarterbacks, the left leg is the front leg when a throw is made.).

A week ago in Houston, the Rams were plus-4 in takeaway/giveaway differential and scored a defensive touchdown on a "pick 6." On Sunday, turnover turnabout was fair play for the Panthers.

On the first play from scrimmage, the Panthers got on the scoreboard even though they didn’t have the ball when the play started. Bradford’s arm was hit by safety Quintin Mikell as he was throwing deep for Brian Quick. That forced the ball off-target, and it was intercepted by Captain Munnerlyn and returned 45 yards for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead.

Mikell, a starter the past two seasons for the Rams, told the Post-Dispatch during the week that he wanted to show his former team he could still play. He did on that play.

Another Rams turnover in the first quarter led to three more points for Carolina on a Graham Gano field goal. Rams rookie Tavon Austin fumbled after a seven-yard reception from Bradford, with Munnerlyn recovering at the Carolina 37. The Panthers then drove 44 yards before the Rams’ defense stiffened and forced a 37-yard field goal.

Otherwise, it was a case of Carolina’s highly-rated red zone defense getting the best of the Rams’ highly-rated red zone offense. On the Rams’ third possession of the game, they drove 65 yards to the Carolina 1, with Bradford hitting Zac Stacy and then Brian Quick for gains of 25 and 24 yards on back-to-back plays.

But on fourth-and-goal from inside the 1, Bradford’s pass to a well-covered Jared Cook fell incomplete and Carolina took over on downs. The Rams did get back on the scoreboard on the next play when Eugene Sims tackled ball-carrier Mike Tolbert in the end zone for a safety.

In the second quarter, the Rams drove 71 yards to the Carolina 9, but the Panthers’ fourth-ranked red zone defense once again kept the Rams’ third-ranked red-zone offense out of the end zone. After two incomplete passes and a one-yard sack of Bradford, the Rams settled for a Greg Zuerlein field goal, cutting the Panthers’ lead to 10-5 with 5:25 to go in the second quarter.

But Carolina (3-3) responded with an 80-yard TD drive, capped by Tolbert’s one-yard touchdown run and took a 17-5 lead into the half.

Before the Rams got the ball in the second half, they were down 20-5 and minus defensive end Long for the rest of the game. On a second-and-14 pass play to Greg Olsen, a scuffle ensued back at the line of scrimmage. Referee Bill Vinovich’s crew could not control the situation, and more and more players entered the ruckus. pushing and shoving each other in one large group. Perhaps a couple of minutes passed when a frustrated Long threw a punch and was ejected.

The ensuing penalty advanced the ball to the St. Louis 17. The Panthers had a first down on the 1, but the Rams stopped back-to-back runs by Mike Tolbert. The second time, Tolbert didn’t like what was happening in the pile and drew a 15-yard penalty for a personnel foul. The Panthers settled for a field goal and a 20-5 lead with 6:46 to go in the third.

But the Rams got back on the board in just three plays. First came a 73-yard bomb to Quick that carried to the Carolina 7. After a 3-yard run by Zac Stacy, Bradford found Stacy in the end zone for a 4-yard TD pass. Zuerlein’s extra point cut Carolina’s lead to 20-12 with 5:22 to go in the third quarter.

But the Rams couldn’t control Carolina’s offense in a disastrous third quarter in which the Rams had the ball for less than two minutes. The Panthers followed the Stacy TD reception with a 72-yard drive culminating in a 19-yard TD pass from Cam Newton to veteran Steve Smith, who beat Janoris Jenkins on what was his 800th career catch.

So the Panthers had their 15-point lead back at 27-12 then tacked on another Gano field goal to make it 30-12. The Rams tacked on a field goal and were driving again when Bradford was injured and replaced by Clemens.