Sam Darnold’s first real action as Panthers QB generates 2 TDs and some hope
Sam Darnold’s first significant action as the Carolina Panthers’ starting quarterback Friday night provided some serious hope for a team that sure could use it.
Darnold threw his first two touchdown passes as a Panther — a 13-yarder on a middle screen to rookie Terrace Marshall Jr. and an 8-yard back-shoulder beauty to Robby Anderson — before a happy home crowd at Bank of America Stadium. Just as importantly, he didn’t turn the ball over in Carolina’s 34-9 exhibition win over Pittsburgh.
Playing against what was largely the Steelers’ second- and third-team defense in the Panthers’ final exhibition game, Darnold quarterbacked a half-dozen drives for the Panthers in the first half and generated 17 points. His most impressive work came on his last drive, when he marched the Panthers 84 yards on 12 plays near the end of the second quarter for a touchdown and a 17-0 Carolina halftime lead. Darnold exited the game after that.
Darnold’s final numbers in one half: 19 for 25 for 162 yards, with two touchdowns and no turnovers.
Overall grade? I’ll give Darnold a B-plus.
A side note that’s also important: The Panthers are completely ready to roll with Darnold into the regular season. Although there was a report in Pro Football Talk Saturday morning that said the Houston Texans were close to trading quarterback Deshaun Watson and that the Panthers and the Miami Dolphins were the two most likely landing places, from everything I’m hearing, the Panthers aren’t involved in talks like that. It certainly appears to be Darnold’s show in 2021.
Darnold could have had 20 points from his offense instead of 17 if Joey Slye had made a 49-yard field goal. And he never made the sort of negative play that plagued him with the New York Jets, although he came close to one with a near sack-fumble that was ruled an incompletion. He moved the ball with regularity (13 first downs, with no 3-and-outs) and also seemed to be establishing a connection with DJ Moore, who caught six passes on six targets in the first half.
On the other hand, Darnold also never hit on a deep ball — he never tried one, either — and made another bad decision on a third-and-2 that nearly resulted in a pick. But two touchdowns on his final two drives were a fine end to his night.
“I thought there were some really good things,” Panthers head coach Matt Rhule said of Darnold’s performance. “Some of the plays he made on third down were great.... I wasn’t happy with the ball they called incomplete (that looked like it could have been a fumble). That’s not what we need.... But I thought overall a good effort.”
Darnold was singing from the same hymnal as Rhule after the game.
“There was some good and some bad,” he said. “It was good to get out there, to get that feel.”
A quick start for Darnold
Darnold started out hot, although he was throwing mostly short and safe passes as he did throughout much of the evening. On his first drive, he completed his first six throws as the Panthers moved from their own 20 to Pittsburgh’s.
Darnold showed nice arm strength early on two sideline throws to Marshall and Moore, who caught three passes on the first drive. A slant to Anderson was also on target, as Darnold got all three of his top receivers involved quickly. But he also overthrew Marshall on a 15-yard pass over the middle.
On 4th-and-2 at the Pittsburgh 20, Rhule decided to go for it instead of attempting a 38-yard field goal. Darnold rolled right, but the two receivers on that side of the field were closely covered, and his scrambling pass never had a chance.
On Darnold’s second drive, he again moved the ball, with a gorgeous third-down pass to Moore that went for 18 yards and a five-yard scramble to get out of trouble. But the drive stalled at the Pittsburgh 34, and this time Rhule decided to try out his new kicker Ryan Santoso on a long field goal attempt.
Santoso banged the ball off the right upright from 52 yards, but it took a lucky bounce and went through anyway, and Darnold had his first points as a Panther.
Darnold’s third drive began on a short field, at the Pittsburgh 25 after a Brian Burns interception. He was sacked on first down while looking deep, setting up a second-and-16 from the Steeler 31. Then came an incomplete pass and another big pass rush that resulted in what officials fortunately called an incomplete pass as Darnold desperately tried to get the ball off to save a field goal attempt.
That brought out Joey Slye for a 49-yard field goal, and he missed wide right, prompting Steve Smith on the local TV telecast to say of Slye: “Where’s my fork? Because he’s done.”
That left Darnold with three points total in his first three series of the night, but things would improve.
‘He doesn’t make excuses’
Darnold’s first-ever Panther TD came on a short field after Pittsburgh fumbled the punt return, when the Panthers got the ball on Pittsburgh’s 15. On 2nd-and-9 from the 14, a great play call resulted in a flanker screen to Marshall with four blockers in front. The rookie wide receiver wasn’t touched until the 1 and bulled in for Darnold’s first TD pass as a Panther. It was also Carolina’s second TD in nine red-zone possessions during the preseason.
Then came the 84-yard drive to end the first half, which Darnold ended by throwing Anderson open in the end zone — aiming a pass just behind his former Jets receiver so that he could reach back and catch it on his back shoulder.
The third and final preseason game was the first time that Panther fans actually saw Darnold play for any real amount of time. He didn’t play in the first game and then in the second, against Baltimore, he played only one series and threw two passes on a drive that ended with no points despite running four plays.
The Panthers had been extremely careful with Darnold throughout the preseason, albeit not quite as careful as they were with Christian McCaffrey (who never played at all this preseason and will still need to find a game rhythm with Darnold).
Darnold basically hadn’t hit the ground in practice in the four months since Carolina traded for him in April. Based on this performance, that trade shows some promise. We will find out more Sept. 12th, when Darnold plays his first real game for the Panthers in their home opener against his old team, the Jets.
Rhule has said this preseason that he wants Darnold to focus on working hard, not on trying to lead as a quarterback on a new team. But the coach said he has seen flashes of that, too.
Said Rhule: “I think you start you’re starting to see a guy that has some leadership that emerges,” He’s not like maybe going to get the guys up and give a rah-rah speech,” Rhule said. “But he is a guy that’s going to be starting to demand accountability. And guys play for him, because he doesn’t make excuses.”
This story was originally published August 27, 2021 at 9:15 PM.
