The Carolina Panthers and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers engaged in what was essentially a playoff game on Sunday. While neither team would technically be eliminated from the playoffs with a loss, their hopes would be on life support.
It was a total team effort for the Panthers to pull out a 23-20 victory. Quarterback Bryce Young had to lead a game-winning drive in the fourth quarter, kicker Ryan Fitzgerald had to nail his field goal attempt for the lead, and safety Lathan Ransom had to make the game-sealing interception on Baker Mayfield.
All three of those players could bask in the glow of their contributions to winning, but for Ransom, the role he played was all the more sweet for him due to his ill-timed uneccessary rougheness penalty costing the Panthers the game against the New Orleans Saints the week before.
From Zero to Hero
Two weeks ago, against the Saints, Lathan Ransom reached his lowest point of the season when his late hit call on Tyler Shough helped set up a game-winning field goal for the Saints.
Anthony Rizzuti of Panthers Wire, in his December 14 article, wrote about the Panthers’ safety and offered a blunt response about what he could have done differently.
“Not hit him,” Ransom said, referring to his penalty against Shough.
Fast-forward a few weeks, and Ransom’s fortunes completely flipped. Ransom’s interception of Baker Mayfield gave the Panthers sole possession of first place in the NFC South and brought the Panthers’ playoff dreams one step closer.
Steve Reed of the Associated Press, in his December 21 article, wrote about Ransom’s response after the game, which was much different than the week before.
“I faced a lot of adversity, and I heard noise from everybody last week,” Ransom said. “… (But) that’s how you shake back.”
Ransom’s resilience the week after a tough break will go a long way with his teammates and coaches.
Canales Loves the Story
One of the major themes of the 2025 Panthers has been their resilience as a team. Each time they’ve suffered a potentially season-derailing loss, they’ve come back stronger.
The same could be said for Panthers rookie Lathan Ransom, who was able to put behind a disastrous play the previous week and become a hero the following week. After the game, in his post-game press conference, Panthers head coach Dave Canales spoke about loving Ransom and his story of overcoming adversity.
“That’s a great story,” Canales said. “That’s fantastic, and it’s just about belief and having confidence in our guys to be able to be studs about the things we need to work on and be studs about the different decisions that come up. I love that for Lathan — for him to be able to make the winning play, the biggest play of the game for us.”
Now, on Sunday, the Panthers will once again have to show their toughness when they take on the number one seed in the NFC, the Seattle Seahawks. To beat them, the team will need to rely on players like Ransom to create game-altering turnovers once again.
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