LOS ANGELES – Sweat was still dripping off their exhausted faces. The jerseys and pants covered in grass stains. Helmets and facemasks scraped and scratched.
Here were the Panthers in the visitors’ locker room at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum, moments after beating the Rams 13-10 and improving to 3-5.
There was hardly any room to move in that locker room. Players were practically leaning on one another once they made their way in.
It mirrored the characteristics of the game they had just played – a game where there was hardly any opportunities to run free, a game where teammates leaned on one another for four quarters and ultimately came together for the definition of a “hard-fought” win.