CHARLOTTE — All week, the Panthers' defense heard about the lore of Matthew Stafford.

They heard about the Rams quarterback and what is shaping up to be a Hall of Fame career. They heard about his streak of 27 touchdowns without an interception, how he ranked in the Top 5 in total passing, led the league in quarterback rating, and guided the Los Angeles Rams to a 9-2 record and hadn't trailed in a game since the first quarter of Week 6.

They heard about how depleted their unit was, how they were missing three starters, were going to have to play a handful of rookies and untested guys, and how, frankly, they had no shot to defeat Stafford in hopes of winning Sunday's Week 13 matchup.

"Being honest, nobody gave us a chance to beat these guys after Monday night. We lost Jaycee Horn and

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