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QB Sam Darnold, MIN (3 Viewers)

Sam Darnold completed 23-of-34 passes for 304 yards, zero touchdowns and zero interceptions in the Panthers' 24-9, Week 3 win over the Texans, adding eight carries for 11 additional yards and two touchdowns. 

The 300-yard effort was Darnold's second in five days, already bringing him halfway to the total he posted in three years as a Jet. Darnold was consistently posting chunk gains through the air this evening, notching six conversions of 20-plus yards. In the "what might have been?" category, Darnold had a 33-yard run called back by holding and overshot D.J. Moore on a potential 51-yard touchdown. Darnold's production has come against the softest of schedules, but it's not like big numbers in good spots could be taken for granted when he was in New York. He is passing every test so far, mostly avoiding turnover-worthy plays, locking onto scintillating fourth-year pro Moore, and even showing juice on the ground, where he now has three scores. The Cowboys will be his toughest test thus far in Week 4, but not from a defensive perspective. Darnold will finally be forced to match scores with someone. That is where mistakes start to get made. He will find himself on the QB1/2 borderline for Week 4.  

Sep 23, 2021, 11:19 PM ET
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I'm quoting Gradkowski here from Sirius radio.....'His footwork immediately after snap was atrocious.  Used to stray from RG to LG constantly, even at USC.  He's not doing that now and it's noticeable.

I thought this was relevant coming from an ex-NFL QB

 
pantherclub said:
granted I never watched the jets but holy hell Sam has a shoulder cannon.  He had about 3 drops as well last night.  I think he is evolving quite nicely under Brady
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Yeah, I thought he looked like he could be an above average NFL QB. Can't complain about that if you're a Panthers fan. I was actually upset on Draft night when they passed on Fields. Might turn out to be for the better. 

 
Sam Darnold completed 21-of-37 passes for 177 yards, a touchdown, and three interceptions in the Panthers' 18-21, Week 5 loss to the Eagles.

Darnold added two carries for 10 yards, failing to recreate his rushing magic from the previous two weeks. The Eagles' defensive line harassed Darnold throughout the game. He was consistently forced from the pocket and often found himself throwing the ball away to avoid taking a sack. For his part, Darnold was less accurate in this game than he had been through four weeks. He notably underthrew Robby Anderson on what would have been a monstrous touchdown completion in the first half. The poor outing also ended Darnold's streak of 300-yard games at three. After showing his low floor in this game, Darnold remains in the QB2 range for his Week 6 matchup with the Vikings.

Oct 10, 2021, 4:26 PM ET
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Sam Darnold completed 17-of-41 passes for 207 yards, one touchdown, and one pick in Carolina's Week 6 overtime loss to the Vikings.

Having completed 12-of-31 passes for 124 yards and a pick midway through the fourth quarter, Darnold turned around and completed 5-of-10 throws for 83 yards and a touchdown to tie the game on Carolina's final drive; Darnold's longest play to that point was a 16-yard completion, breaking that streak with a 41-yard connection to Ian Thomas during the team's 11-play, 96-yard game-tying possession. It was ultimately another performance in which Darnold cowered under pressure, now folding in said situations for four total interceptions in back-to-back games. Although Week 8 presents a softer matchup against New York's secondary, Darnold should be viewed as a high-end QB2 rather than fringe QB1.

- NBC SportsEDGE
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He looked lost.  He missed multiple open receivers ... off target, low, over their heads.  He should be fortunate there were not more INTs...  2 dropped... Even the announcers were talking up De Watson coming to Carolina.  

There might have been 4 passes where he looked good - late game tying TD to Robby Anderson being 1. 

Time to move on from this 2nd round pick experiment.  

 
Birdie048 said:
He looked lost.  He missed multiple open receivers ... off target, low, over their heads.  He should be fortunate there were not more INTs...  2 dropped... Even the announcers were talking up De Watson coming to Carolina.  

There might have been 4 passes where he looked good - late game tying TD to Robby Anderson being 1. 

Time to move on from this 2nd round pick experiment.  
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I mean, he wasn't good but maybe I watched a different game. His WRs dropped 6 or 7 passes, most right on target. Anderson was terrible and Moore only a little better. The announcers kept talking about it. Not sure how anyone would miss that. But certainly not great. 

 
ConstruxBoy said:
I mean, he wasn't good but maybe I watched a different game. His WRs dropped 6 or 7 passes, most right on target. Anderson was terrible and Moore only a little better. The announcers kept talking about it. Not sure how anyone would miss that. But certainly not great. 
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Chuba had at least one bad drop as well. Anderson was horrendous. 

 
I didnt watch the entire game but the OL looked pretty bad from what I saw...I think Car made a big mistake not taking Slater to fortify the OL.  Sam has show he doesnt do well under such intense pressure.  

 
Kiddnets said:
I didnt watch the entire game but the OL looked pretty bad from what I saw...I think Car made a big mistake not taking Slater to fortify the OL.  Sam has show he doesnt do well under such intense pressure.  
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Yeah, he did have some happy feet at times yesterday although not as terrible as some other QBs I have seen. He did look better at the end of the game. He may just be an average NFL QB. But that's not so terrible for CAR with such a young team. Build the DEF (already looking pretty good), the OL and the weapons and then if you need a better QB, go get him. 

 
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Kiddnets said:
I didnt watch the entire game but the OL looked pretty bad from what I saw...I think Car made a big mistake not taking Slater to fortify the OL.  Sam has show he doesnt do well under such intense pressure.  
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  Not taking slater is going to bite them in the butt for years to come.  

 
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As a DJM shareholder I am less than pleased by the Darnold regression. 

He missed Moore 8 times. sure, 13 targets is nice, but 8?! 

Fortunately I survived this week as my IDP-ers all blew up along with Mixon & Henderson, but AJGreen should not be my leading WR when Moore has 13 targets. That’s nuts. 

 
ConstruxBoy said:
I mean, he wasn't good but maybe I watched a different game. His WRs dropped 6 or 7 passes, most right on target. Anderson was terrible and Moore only a little better. The announcers kept talking about it. Not sure how anyone would miss that. But certainly not great. 
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Agreed... the Drops hurt clearly >5 drops ...  But many of the off target passes looked bad.  

 
“Panthers head coach Matt Rhule said he wants to "redefine who we are" on offense, including a commitment to establishing the run. 

Rhule seems done with the idea of a Sam Darnold-centric offense following a horrific three-week stretch in which Darnold has thrown four touchdowns and six interceptions. He completed a disastrous 41.7 percent of his attempts in Carolina's Week 6 loss to the Vikings, averaging a miserable five yards per attempt. The desire to establish the run is usually easier than the execution, as many teams are rarely in position to bleed the clock with a three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust offensive approach. Expect Chuba Hubbard to get every shot to run the rock for as long as Christian McCaffrey (hamstring) is out, and look for Carolina's passing production to wane if the team is able to create neutral and positive game script. Hubbard has 61 touches in three starts this season. He could be the most valuable waiver add of 2021.”

I’m not sure why they went with a Darnold-centric pass happy approach to begin with, but I do agree this is the right move.  Darnold will be far more effective if they can better establish the run & use the screen game that made CMC so valuable. 

That will slow down the pass rush & make Darnold more effective when he does look downfield. 

 
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Hot Sauce Guy said:
I’m not sure why they went with a Darnold-centric pass happy approach to begin with, but I do agree this is the right move.  Darnold will be far more effective if they can better establish the run & use the screen game that made CMC so valuable.

That will slow down the pass rush & make Darnold more effective when he does look downfield. 
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I mean, I kinda get it. Darnold was looking great against weaker competition/clean pockets and was elite targeting D.J. Moore. When the competition improved and the pressure increased... he got happy feet, his accuracy dropped and the turnovers starting happening. In Minny Patrick Peterson shadowed DJ Moore and suddenly it all fell apart for Sam... until Peterson pulled up lame late in the 4th; suddenly Darnold started looking competent again. His receivers did him no favors with at least 7-8 drops in the game, but Darnold was far from blameless.

They gotta simplify the game plan again, dumpoffs to Chuba and utilizing the TEs more in the offense. They also really need to make sure Sam spreads the ball more; it's so predictable that he tries to hit DJ at all levels of the field I'm stunned more teams haven't tried to double him and dare Sam to beat them consistently throwing to other guys.

 
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Sam Darnold was benched in the fourth quarter of the Panthers' Week 7 game against the Giants.

P.J. Walker took over for Darnold and promptly led a three-and-out drive. At the time of the benching, the Panthers had three points on the board. Darnold managed 111 passing yards and an interception while completing16-of-25 attempts in three quarters of action. He was inaccurate from start to finish and even his completed passes were often off-target. Darnold also struggled to diagnose pressure and took four sacks. It's unclear if Walker will be the starter going forward or if Matt Rhule and company will try the Darnold experiment again next week. Neither quarterback is worth starting in any fantasy format with the bottom falling out on the Carolina offense.

RELATED: 

P.J. Walker

Oct 24, 2021, 3:37 PM ET
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I think it is fair to say at this point that Darnold is not the answer. If all the other variables line up (strong run game, strong defense, positive game environment) that he could be servicable, but Carolina will again be in the QB market. The body of work is now large enough (and he's had good coaching for about half a season) that his ceiling lies in being an average NFL QB- at best. 

My assessment is that he is good enough to be a starter but that the best a Darnold-led team can hope for is a potential wild card spot. 

 
Ack88 said:
I think it is fair to say at this point that Darnold is not the answer. If all the other variables line up (strong run game, strong defense, positive game environment) that he could be servicable, but Carolina will again be in the QB market. The body of work is now large enough (and he's had good coaching for about half a season) that his ceiling lies in being an average NFL QB- at best. 

My assessment is that he is good enough to be a starter but that the best a Darnold-led team can hope for is a potential wild card spot. 
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Yeah, I agree with that. 
Good thing he isn’t still with the Jets dragging them down. 
Oh wait. 

 
ConstruxBoy said:
Good thing he isn’t still with the Jets dragging them down. 
 
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Serious question: Do you honestly believe one Jets' fan actually said that or are you just trying to spin it back to save a little face here?

I think every Jets' fan that gave their opinion in this thread was pretty clear in saying the Jets absolutely did not do him any favors and that he was burdened with poor coaching and a far below average supporting cast. But we also saw that he had no ability to rise above his circumstances and shared some of the blame in his failure and that going somewhere else wasn't likely going to automatically make him a good QB - but every one of us thought he'd most likely look at least a little better with a better supporting cast and better coaching.

I was trying to stay out of this thread and not take any "victory laps" - and I still don't have interest in doing that.

I would have expected you to at least say "my bad" but you doubled down instead with some petty high school chick level "burn" instead. I said in here I expect Sam to get benched by Rhule at some point, but I could have seen a scenario where that statement made me look foolish, but here we are.

Anyway, sometimes fans that watch every single game a player plays can offer insight into a player without it being purely "sour grapes " or "trying too hard". Imagine that?

 
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Dr. Octopus said:
Serious question: Do you honestly believe one Jets' fan actually said that or are you just trying to spin it back to save a little face here?

I think every Jets' fan that gave their opinion in this thread was pretty clear in saying the Jets absolutely did not do him any favors and that he was burdened with poor coaching and a far below average supporting cast. But we also saw that he had no ability to rise above his circumstances and shared some of the blame in his failure and that going somewhere else wasn't likely going to automatically make him a good QB - but every one of us thought he'd most likely look at least a little better with a better supporting cast and better coaching.

I was trying to stay out of this thread and not take any "victory laps" - and I still don't have interest in doing that.

I would have expected you to at least say "my bad" but you doubled down instead with some petty high school chick level "burn" instead. I said in here I expect Sam to get benched by Rhule at some point, but I could have seen a scenario where that statement made me look foolish, but here we are.

Anyway, sometimes fans that watch every single game a player plays can offer insight into a player without it being purely "sour grapes " or "trying too hard". Imagine that?
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Mostly this is just fun going back and forth with Jets fans to be honest. I was a little disappointed that one of your fans pulled up completely unrelated posts I made more than 10 years ago to try to score some points. That's a ####ty, childish thing to do. But maybe you disagree. 

As stated, I thought Sam would be better on a different team than the Jets because they, by their own fans admission, tend to be a mess and not do well with young QBs. As a Buffalo sports fan, I know all about franchises that are a mess. 

He did look quite good the first three weeks, albeit against poorer competition. I still do agree with the post above that he can be an average-ish starting QB but certainly the Panthers and their fans want more than that. 

I absolutely misjudged the ability of Jets fans to accurately assess him. I think part of that was the almost angry reactions to him and discussions about him after the trade. However a lot of that was from that same one poster so maybe he's just really immature. But it is a good lesson learned for me and I apologize for any animosity it has caused. 

I do have one funny story about this that just happened to me. I was on a conference call an hour ago with 4 coworkers. One of them I knew was from New York but I have never talked football with him. The rest of us generally root for the Panthers. We were lamenting the loss to the Giants and he was lamenting the beat down by the Patriots, so it turns out he is a Jets fan. Then he said "And you guys benched Darnold. I told you it wasn't all our fault!"

So I thought it was funny that there is another Jets fan that feels the same way, and clearly heard the same things we discussed in this thread. All the more proof I should "stay in my lane" better in the future. 

 
ConstruxBoy said:
Mostly this is just fun going back and forth with Jets fans to be honest. I was a little disappointed that one of your fans pulled up completely unrelated posts I made more than 10 years ago to try to score some points. That's a ####ty, childish thing to do. But maybe you disagree. 
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I don't want to bog down the thread but I have no idea what you're talking about here - and have no interest in it to be honest.

 
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I should add that I also watched several USC games when Sam was there and sat in the stands at the Rose Bowl when he beat my Penn State team. I was very impressed with him. So I'm surprised he hasn't been better as a pro. I did put most of the blame on the Jets, which clearly was a mistake. 

 
ConstruxBoy said:
He did look quite good the first three weeks, albeit against poorer competition. I still do agree with the post above that he can be an average-ish starting QB but certainly the Panthers and their fans want more than that. 
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To be completely honest, I think Wilson looked like the best QB in the game in Week 1 (especially in the second half). Darnold's success did seem to be a bit of 'smoke and mirrors" after 3 weeks, when you factored in the level of competition (3 horrible teams), the reliance on CMc and the unsustainable rushing statistics. But he did also look good at times and at 3-0, I was thinking I'd be eating some crow.

Even when I was downplaying him in the thread, I did say that I could see a prime-Andy Dalton career from him (which is not an insult even though it may sound like one) and to be completely honest there's still time for that to happen. I do not hate Sam at all, and outside of the Jets having the Carolina pick I wasn't rooting for him to fail - but will admit if he tore up the league it surely would have stung a bit.

 
ConstruxBoy said:
I should add that I also watched several USC games when Sam was there and sat in the stands at the Rose Bowl when he beat my Penn State team. I was very impressed with him. So I'm surprised he hasn't been better as a pro. I did put most of the blame on the Jets, which clearly was a mistake. 
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His game against Penn State was one of the most impressive college QB performances I have ever watched - it was surely something that made me feel good about drafting him, even if his follow up college season was relatively disappointing.

 
To get the thread back on track - where do the Panthers go from here?

The fifth year option is now a sunk cost. Obviously DeShaun Watson is out there - but if he ends up elsewhere do they continue to ride Darnold and hope for growth?

I actually kind of like PJ Walker but I'm not sure he's a long term NFL starter - maybe one of those guys that look decent in small doses but can't carry a team over the course of a season?

 
I think they just stick with Darnold to be honest. See what he can do, or rather, if he can do more. You do play some other poorer teams so maybe he looks good again in those. Then try to find a QB in the offseason. I don't really see it in Walker. But if the coaches do, then maybe get him so work again later in the year. 

 
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