This is now Sam Darnold's team

[FakePlasticTrees]

I buy into the idea that winning next week gives proper meaning to this week's win. The Panthers have experienced their first real adversity of the season with two key players getting injured. Fortunately, they have extra time to prepare for Dallas and develop a plan to overcome this week's adversity. 

Also, I believe Dallas will come into next week's game after a short week.

The Panthers are 3-0 and have not really put two solid scoring halves of football together in the same game. Perhaps that will come against Dallas.

[Jon Snow]

23 minutes ago, Khyber53 said:

This is one of those turning point games. And you could see it when he got pushed, pulled and squished into the endzone. That wide-eyed look Darnold had as he went through the compactor and came out the winner and alive.

This^

[GoobyPls]

Adversity? We never trailed against bottom 5 team starting a rookie QB. Lol

[davos]

You look around the league at the best squads right now and what do they have? The QB guiding multiple weapons down field to score no matter how, with one primary feeder.

• Darnold is the lead
• The offense will be propelled by Moore
• We have the splash play arsenal in Robby
• I'd say it's time for Dan Arnold to really step it up
• And then for the the young major potential in Marshall, Tremble, Hubbard, & Smith to actualize 

Now is the time.  

 

[SBBlue]

41 minutes ago, MechaZain said:

Sam plays the way I hoped Teddy would. That's enough to make us scary.

I'm just glad Sam didn't sit on the Jets bench during the game and put his arm around Zach Wilson smiling....and then smiling after a loss,  and then blame everyone else for missing a wide open DJ Moore in the back of the EZ to win the game.

[PootieNunu]

5 minutes ago, SBBlue said:

I'm just glad Sam didn't sit on the Jets bench during the game and put his arm around Zach Wilson smiling....and then smiling after a loss,  and then blame everyone else for missing a wide open DJ Moore in the back of the EZ to win the game.

This. I am glad Sam has accountability, Teddy had absolutely none of it. The best thing about Sam so far is his willingness to take the blame and get better.

[Khyber53]

We have a lot of good, good players on the field. And Sam Darnold is looking the part of a top class point guard. He knows who has the hot hand, he keeps things moving and he's instilling confidence in those around him. 

Dang, Sam, never thought you'd work out like this, but man keep going!

[panthers55]

This is exactly what I envisioned with Darnold. Be a solid game manager and get the ball out to his playmaker. If anything he is tougher and more solid then I realized. He is really becoming the leader of the offense and elevating the play of those around him. His elusiveness even makes the terrible line look better than it is. Overall he is working out better than most expected.

[DaveThePanther2008]

3 hours ago, panthers55 said:

This is exactly what I envisioned with Darnold. Be a solid game manager and get the ball out to his playmaker. If anything he is tougher and more solid then I realized. He is really becoming the leader of the offense and elevating the play of those around him. His elusiveness even makes the terrible line look better than it is. Overall he is working out better than most expected.

Very tough.  I love his mobility in the pocket.  I have seen several times he's moved around the pocket to extend a play for an additional second or two.  He's been popped a few times but still hung in there and made the play before getting popped.  

While the game manager fits, I don't necessarily see him game manager.  I think he is executing Joe Brady's gameplan to a tee.  If that's a game manager than OK with me.  If we get behind I truly believe he'll execute Brady's plan and get us a win.  

Darnold is a good fit for Brady. 

[RJK]

The whole team was in shock after CMC went down but eventually Sammy D rallied the troops. I don’t want to rely solely on him tho. They need chubba or freeman or someone not yet on the roster to step up big time 

Edited September 24, 2021 by RJK

[panthers55]

1 minute ago, DaveThePanther2008 said:

Very tough.  I love his mobility in the pocket.  I have seen several times he's moved around the pocket to extend a play for an additional second or two.  He's been popped a few times but still hung in there and made the play before getting popped.  

While the game manager fits, I don't necessarily see him game manager.  I think he is executing Joe Brady's gameplan to a tee.  If that's a game manager than OK with me.  If we get behind I truly believe he'll execute Brady's plan and get us a win.  

Darnold is a good fit for Brady. 

I think Tom Brady is the ultimate game manager. So to me that is a compliment not a criticism.

[pantherclaw]

4 hours ago, CarolinaLivin said:

I think this is the Defense's team. Darnold has played great without everything being on him. Our defense has won games and he has been great at just playing steady and not trying to be a hero like in NY.

Not saying that if it's all on him he would revert back to that, but the plan in place has been working. Defense wins the game. Darnold doesn't turn the ball over to lose us the game. 

That's cute. But nobody outside of a few here on the huddle will look at it that way. 

[OldhamA]

4 hours ago, CarolinaLivin said:

I think this is the Defense's team. Darnold has played great without everything being on him. Our defense has won games and he has been great at just playing steady and not trying to be a hero like in NY.

Not saying that if it's all on him he would revert back to that, but the plan in place has been working. Defense wins the game. Darnold doesn't turn the ball over to lose us the game. 

If Darnold was asked to win shootouts with this offensive line then we'd be seeing an awful lot of Walker.

It's a team effort. That's what Rhule is building here. These aren't your Hurney / Rivera Panthers relying on a handful of star players to drag you to wins. 

[OldhamA]

3 hours ago, davos said:

You look around the league at the best squads right now and what do they have? The QB guiding multiple weapons down field to score no matter how, with one primary feeder.

• Darnold is the lead
• The offense will be propelled by Moore
• We have the splash play arsenal in Robby
• I'd say it's time for Dan Arnold to really step it up
• And then for the the young major potential in Marshall, Tremble, Hubbard, & Smith to actualize 

Now is the time.  

 

As much as I dislike to quote Colin Cowherd, he's right. This can't be a great team with this Oline.

We can win the games we're meant to win and compete against the better teams in the league, but this Oline will hold us back.

We all knew that coming into the season that, at best, the Oline would be serviceable. It's the next thing to fix in this rebuild project - I'm sure Rhule and Fitterer are very aware of that. Rome wasn't built in a day.