luckadjusted
NFL Week 9 · 2026

Week 13 2025 · November 30, 2025

Rams at Panthers, Week 13 2025: who deserved to win?

The Panthers beat the Rams 31–28, a result the replays rarely give: with the way both teams actually played, the Rams win 8 of 10. Luck ran their way: fumble bounces alone were worth 15 points of win probability to the Panthers.

Before kickoff the Rams were 77% favorites. The biggest swing (Q1, 1:20 left): Return touchdown by the Panthers, worth 24 points of win probability to the Panthers.

Final

Los Angeles Rams 28
Carolina Panthers 31

November 30, 2025 · Bank of America Stadium · Closing line: Rams −10

Luck index +81 Panthers very lucky · −81 Rams

Each team’s own plays from this game, resampled into new drives 4,000 times: with the way both teams actually played, how often does this performance win? How the replay works

Ten replays. Rams win 8, Panthers win 2.

  1. 1 LA 34 CAR 6
  2. 2 LA 40 CAR 20
  3. 3 LA 23 CAR 7
  4. 4 LA 30 CAR 17
  5. 5 LA 24 CAR 14
  6. 6 LA 23 CAR 16
  7. 7 LA 24 CAR 20
  8. 8 LA 31 CAR 29
  9. 9 LA 17 CAR 20
  10. 10 LA 24 CAR 35

Three other ways to ask

Each answers a different question, so none of them replaces the replay above.

The closing betting line, turned into a probability. What everyone knew before the game.

The line plus what this game showed, weighted by how much one game can tell. It stays close to the line because one game says little.

Every kick, fumble bounce, drop, conversion and judgment call redrawn; everything else fixed. The narrowest view of luck.

How 4,000 replays ended

Rams win 81% of them, Panthers 19%, counting the 2% still level after regulation as half each. The line is what actually happened: Panthers by 3.

Show as a table
Final margin in the replaysShare of replays
Rams by 17+28.9%
Rams by 9–1622.0%
Rams by 1–829.5%
Level after regulation2.0%
Panthers by 1–810.8%
Panthers by 9–164.8%
Panthers by 17+1.9%

Where the luck was

What the luck was worth

Every lucky and unlucky play, weighted by the moment it happened: its swing in win probability, added up by kind. A missed kick in a decided game counts for nothing; the same kick at the end of a tie game can be most of a win.

Swings add up across a game, so in one that went back and forth they can pass 100%. On the scoreboard the same luck was worth +1.6 points to the Rams: the final margin was Panthers by 3, without the luck Panthers by 4.6. Luck shares are the fitted ones (how much of each kind is luck).

Penalties: Rams 1 for 5 yards, Panthers 7 for 70 yards

Every accepted flag, in order, and what it did to the helped team’s chance of winning at that moment, including any play it wiped out (points on the scoreboard in grey). A flag in a decided game is worth nothing; one at the turn of a close game can be worth most of a win. Judgment calls count half toward luck; pre-snap fouls, which repeat, don’t count. How calls are valued

WhenFlagWin probability for
Q1 15:00 Unnecessary Roughness on the Panthers (Thomas Incoom), 15 yards +4% LA +1.2 pts
Q1 1:10 Illegal Formation on the Panthers (Robert Rochell), 5 yards · pre-snap +1% LA +0.4 pts
Q2 8:07 Offensive Holding on the Panthers (Mitchell Evans), 10 yards, wiping out the play +3% LA +1.9 pts
Q2 5:02 Defensive Offside on the Panthers (Tershawn Wharton), 5 yards · pre-snap 0% LA +0.3 pts
Q3 7:12 Offensive Holding on the Panthers (Thomas Incoom), 10 yards +4% LA +0.8 pts
Q4 15:00 Offensive Holding on the Panthers (Ja'Tavion Sanders), 10 yards +3% LA +1.5 pts
Q4 2:34 Unsportsmanlike Conduct on the Panthers, 15 yards +8% LA +1.4 pts
Q4 2:34 Delay of Game on the Rams, 5 yards · pre-snap +4% CAR +0.6 pts

Rams penalties, every game · Panthers penalties, every game · All teams, 2025

When it happened

Panthers’ chance of winning

As low as 34% and as high as 100%. Numbers mark the biggest luck moments, listed below.

nflfastR’s in-game win probability. It ignores the betting line, so it starts near even. Shaded above the middle while the Panthers were ahead in it, below while the Rams were.
#WhenWhat happenedWin probability forNext drive
1 Q1 7:46 The Panthers converted 3rd & 83rd & 4th downs · 31% expected +8% CAR CAR: Touchdown
2 Q1 4:07 The Rams were intercepted on a well-placed throwInterceptions · defenses pick off well under 1% of clean throws +12% CAR LA: Opp touchdown
3 Q1 1:20 The Rams threw an interception-worthy pass, and it was pickedInterceptions · defenses catch 55% of interception-worthy throwsReturn touchdown by the PanthersSpecial teams +24% CAR LA: Touchdown
4 Q3 11:33 The Panthers converted 3rd & 53rd & 4th downs · 40% expected +8% CAR CAR: Touchdown
5 Q3 8:54 The Panthers converted 4th & 33rd & 4th downs · 52% expected +11% CAR CAR: Touchdown
6 Q4 6:43 The Panthers converted 4th & 23rd & 4th downs · 61% expected +13% CAR CAR: Touchdown
7 Q4 4:09 The Rams converted 3rd & 63rd & 4th downs · 41% expected +11% LA LA: Turnover
8 Q4 2:34 The Rams fumbled and the Panthers recoveredFumble bounces · loose balls are close to 50/50Unsportsmanlike Conduct on the Panthers, 15 yardsJudgment callsDelay of Game on the Rams, 5 yardsPre-snap flags +10% CAR LA: End of game

Missing players

Key players (usually on the field for half the snaps or more) who missed this game or part of it, valued by position and quality. The same players are missing in every replay, so this counts as luck in points only.

  • Jaycee Horn (CAR CB), out · 0.8 pts
  • Tre'von Moehrig (CAR S), out (IR) · 0.6 pts
  • Brady Christensen (CAR OL), out (IR) · 0.3 pts
  • Cade Mays (CAR C), out · 0.3 pts
  • Christian Rozeboom (CAR LB), out · 0.2 pts
  • Patrick Jones II (CAR LB), out (IR) · 0.1 pts
  • Rob Havenstein (LA OL), out (IR) · 0.6 pts
  • Tyler Higbee (LA TE), out (IR) · 0.5 pts
  • Quentin Lake (LA S), out (IR) · 0.3 pts

Adjust the assumptions

Disagree with how much of a fumble bounce or a pass interference call is luck? Change it and the coin-flip replay reruns in your browser.

Only coin-flips re-rolled

Rams 20% · Panthers 80%

Final margin
Panthers by 3
Luck in points
1.6 for the Rams
Luck-adjusted margin
Panthers by 4.6
Replay with same day's form
Rams 81% · Panthers 19% unchanged: why
How much of each is luck?

0% treats it as skill, 100% as pure luck. The tick is our fit.

What counts

None by default: our tests measured no carryover after a lucky break. Slide it up to count a break for more than its own swing. Why

Flip a play

Force the other outcome, in this game and in every replay: a made kick becomes a miss, a stop becomes a conversion, a flag goes the other way.

About these numbers

Play-by-play and win probability from nflfastR via nflverse; kicks valued against each kicker’s own record; drops and interception-worthy throws from FTN charting; injuries from snap counts and injury reports.

Methodology and validation · All Week 13 2025 games · Rams · Panthers

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