That was the Sam Darnold the Jets gave up on, and that’s what the Panthers don’t need
For the first time on Sunday, Carolina Panthers fans witnessed the Sam Darnold that the New York Jets gave up on.
Darnold pressed. He hurried. He underthrew deep balls and overthrew short balls, and — most damaging of all — served up three interceptions in Carolina’s 21-18 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.
Yes, the offensive line was all sorts of bad. Yes, his receivers could have helped him a lot more. But Darnold still should have won that game Sunday.
This was the sort of game that better be an anomaly and not a trend. If it happens again and again, the Panthers will be hunting for another quarterback in 2022.
Carolina ripped defeat from the jaws of victory Sunday to an Eagles team that’s going to finish 7-10. Darnold had a chance for a signature two-minute drive and instead ended it early with his third interception before Carolina even crossed midfield.
The Philadelphia cornerback who made the play said it was a predictable call by offensive coordinator Joe Brady.
“That guy (Robby Anderson) had been lining up in that formation all day,” Philadelphia’s Steven Nelson said. “I just kind of read the play before it even happened and made the play.”
For all the early promise of this season, the Panthers are now 3-2 again heading into Sunday’s home game vs. Minnesota, just like they were in 2020 before they finished 5-11.
It looked like Teddy Bridgewater 2.0 out there on Sunday, the way those final four minutes went south. It was such a frustrating finish for everyone in Bank of America Stadium — except for the thousands of Eagle fans — that it had Anderson angrily screaming on the sideline after one of the times Darnold misfired his way.
Darnold wouldn’t comment on Anderson’s sideline screams and Anderson wasn’t available for comment after the game. But Panthers coach Matt Rhule said in his press conference Monday that, although he hadn’t yet talked directly to Anderson, that someone had told him the wide receiver was angry that the Panthers weren’t throwing more “double move” or “stutter-and-go” deep balls to keep the Eagles from sitting on their shorter pass routes.
Rhule also said that Brady would be “the first to tell you” that the Panthers needed to take more “deep shots” in coming games to stretch defenses.
The late blocked punt that the Eagles got? Not Darnold’s fault.
The Eagles’ final drive? Not Darnold’s fault, either.
But NFL quarterbacks also can’t throw three interceptions and expect to win a game. Good ones win games like this, when you don’t trail for the first 57 minutes and a generally strong defense provides you two points on a safety and a couple of turnovers, too.
Darnold said a lot of four-word phrases about his play in his postgame news conference Sunday, including:
▪ “Didn’t play well enough.”
▪ “Was pressing too much.”
▪ “Held ball too long.”
▪ “Gotta get it out.”
▪ “Gotta stay within myself.”
A couple more he didn’t say but would be justified:
▪ I missed Christian McCaffrey.
▪ Can anybody here block?
Darnold was sacked five times in a loss to Dallas last week and then three more times this week.
“Certainly, the tale of this week and last week is our inability to protect the quarterback,” Rhule said.
Still, the lion’s share of blame and credit always falls on the quarterback. That’s part of the job description. And Darnold had his chances in a 21-for-37 performance that included those three picks but also one TD pass to rookie Tommy Tremble.
Darnold’s worst throw?
There were lots of choices, including the deep ball he underthrew by a hair to Anderson, or any of the three picks. But I’d instead go with a relatively simple throw. It happened with Carolina leading 18-13 and trying to run out some clock with a 3rd-and-3 on its 46-yard line and 4:04 left in the game.
Darnold rolled right, saw Anderson open by a step on about a six-yard pass — and led him too much. Anderson dove for the ball, but it glanced off his fingertips. Carolina had to punt, the punt was blocked and then it all went to pot after that. Pretty soon Jalen Hurts was scoring his second rushing TD of the day and mimicking Cam Newton’s old “Superman” celebration and the Panthers were sustaining one of their most painful losses of the past several years.
But that throw on 3rd-and-3. Should Anderson have caught it? Maybe. He could have, at least.
Rhule called it “a bad ball” by his quarterback, though. And so did Darnold.
“It was a perfect call,” Darnold said. “I just have to put it on him. ... I should have hit that throw.”
The quarterback wasn’t really pressured on the play. He was rolling right like every right-handed QB likes to do, and still he missed it.
After three straight games of throwing for 300 or more yards, Darnold only managed 177 Sunday. His quarterback rating of 44.5 was easily his worst as a Panther. Even in his awful third season for the Jets in 2020, he only threw three interceptions in the same game once. And his rushing and scrambling game, so good for the first four contests, was nearly non-existent. The Panthers were only 5 for 15 on third down.
It’s all salvageable.
The Panthers have a dozen more games to go, and their next opponent is 2-3 Minnesota.
But Sunday was a great chance for the Panthers, and Darnold, to make an impression. Instead, this was a regression.
This story was originally published October 10, 2021 at 7:26 PM.
