A critique of Darnold through 4 games

[Mr. Scot]

1 minute ago, Jon Snow said:

They may be treating him that way but they are going to have to deal with flare ups of his past 3 years. 

It's hard not to revert back to old habits when you are getting beat to hell. It will take time to undo 3 years of bad coaching, if ever.

Protection has to get better.

Frankly, that'd be true regardless of his past status.

[Jon Snow]

Just now, Mr. Scot said:

Protection has to get better.

Frankly, that'd be true regardless of his past status.

Absolutely the protections have to get better!  There is no way they can play another 13 games with this line and expect Sam to survive let alone progress. 

[ForJimmy]

2 hours ago, TLGPanthersFan said:

Cam also threw 30 TDs as well. Considering the best QBs today throw 30+ TDs are the regular it really isn’t the old school way of thinking. Brady is also terrible at scheming players open in the redzone, as I said above. 
As much as I loved Cam running the ball I was way more impressed with his passing numbers. Passing TD-wise so far Darnold has been unimpressive. I hope it changed. 

How many passing TDs does Jackson have so far this year? Look if they are going to drop back and leave the lane open we would be stupid not to just run it in with Darnold. Why risk a tipped ball/INT if they are going to give us an easy TD. Take what the defense gives you. If they adjust then we will also. Running backs are traditionally suppose to run the ball, are we unimpressed when CMC catches a TD vs running one? 

[bigdavis]

27 minutes ago, cookinbrak said:

"OK, if Chuba goes in motion, the safety follows him. Unless the other safety moves up, I can walk in."

That's called reading the defense.  Smart qbs do that.

That's a good point.

All those posters demeaning  his rushing TDs aren't analyzing them, but are equating them to Cam's style -- entirely different.  Darnold has 5 rushing TDs in the first 4 games, more than Cam -- or ANY OTHER QB in the history of the league (SB era).  And what makes them special is that (unlike Cam, who'd just launch himself over the pile from the 1) Darnold has only been TOUCHED on 1 of those 5.

So let's give the man credit.  He's reading the defense on those 4 TDs, a lot better than they're reading him!

It seems like there are posters here (I won't call them Panther fans) who have holdover resentments (Fields?) that we ever signed him, and will never accept him as our QB.

His record is so far more than acceptable -- W/L, %completions, yardage, TDs, you name it.  So he's missed some open receivers?  Happens to every QB.  I support and admire what he's done.  The ones who pick apart some arcane stat he lags behind at are either missing the big picture, or are hopelessly swirling in their own bias.

[mwright350]

Seems like to me, based partially on reactions I've caught myself having, that some (a lot?) of us are giving more weight to things Sam does wrong / mistakes / holes in his game / whatever else due to how awful his time in NY looked than we would another QB (Not necessarily Cam, I dislike that comparison wholesale in spite of the Cam Darnold jokes being fun.  Any other QB not coming from garbage play in a garbage situation). Fear of seeing him regress / fail to grow, I guess, but it's not hard to remember people vehemently defending QBs here who were markedly worse.

To me it looks like the kid is playing his ass off and has done far more "right" than "wrong".  This early in the process of getting his career on track for the first time I'm perfectly OK with that; I expected it to take longer to get to the point we're at now.  What I do find a little odd, though, is the way a lot of his critics have shifted very quickly from 'I hope he can even be a functional starter' to telling us the reasons he's not elite (yet, I still think he can be).  There are some stops along the way from "Holy poo how can one guy on one team be THAT bad" to "wow this kid is amazing" and we don't need to nitpick every little thing along the way.  That just reads like trying to find an excuse to stay down on a player / looking for something to gripe about, whether intentional or not.

[glenwo2]

39 minutes ago, Jon Snow said:

They may be treating him that way but they are going to have to deal with flare ups of his past 3 years. 

It's hard not to revert back to old habits when you are getting beat to hell. It will take time to undo 3 years of bad coaching, if ever.

Unfortunately, Sam doesn't have much time to "undo" the last 3 seasons.

He has to show constant improvement by the time this season is done or his future won't be here but elsewhere...as a career backup. 

Yes I know they picked up his option for the 5th year but it's this season that will determine if an extension is warranted.

Edited October 5, 2021 by glenwo2

[glenwo2]

6 minutes ago, mwright350 said:

Seems like to me, based partially on reactions I've caught myself having, that some (a lot?) of us are giving more weight to things Sam does wrong / mistakes / holes in his game / whatever else due to how awful his time in NY looked than we would another QB (Not necessarily Cam, I dislike that comparison wholesale in spite of the Cam Darnold jokes being fun.  Any other QB not coming from garbage play in a garbage situation). Fear of seeing him regress / fail to grow, I guess, but it's not hard to remember people vehemently defending QBs here who were markedly worse.

To me it looks like the kid is playing his ass off and has done far more "right" than "wrong".  This early in the process of getting his career on track for the first time I'm perfectly OK with that; I expected it to take longer to get to the point we're at now.  What I do find a little odd, though, is the way a lot of his critics have shifted very quickly from 'I hope he can even be a functional starter' to telling us the reasons he's not elite (yet, I still think he can be).  There are some stops along the way from "Holy poo how can one guy on one team be THAT bad" to "wow this kid is amazing" and we don't need to nitpick every little thing along the way.  That just reads like trying to find an excuse to stay down on a player / looking for something to gripe about, whether intentional or not.

I think those naysayers are just wanting Sam gone because they wanted the team to draft Justin Fields and they're forever throwing a temper tantrum because of it.

[rayzor]

2 hours ago, TLGPanthersFan said:

I would rather just have a QB that can pass TDs. 
This year and last year we seem to have a coaching staff that think you have to use all 100 yards of the field before you can try for the endzone. 
I would just like to see a QB that passes for a lot of TDs. But to each his own 

[rayzor]

23 minutes ago, bigdavis said:

That's a good point.

All those posters demeaning  his rushing TDs aren't analyzing them, but are equating them to Cam's style -- entirely different.  Darnold has 5 rushing TDs in the first 4 games, more than Cam -- or ANY OTHER QB in the history of the league (SB era).  And what makes them special is that (unlike Cam, who'd just launch himself over the pile from the 1) Darnold has only been TOUCHED on 1 of those 5.

So let's give the man credit.  He's reading the defense on those 4 TDs, a lot better than they're reading him!

It seems like there are posters here (I won't call them Panther fans) who have holdover resentments (Fields?) that we ever signed him, and will never accept him as our QB.

His record is so far more than acceptable -- W/L, %completions, yardage, TDs, you name it.  So he's missed some open receivers?  Happens to every QB.  I support and admire what he's done.  The ones who pick apart some arcane stat he lags behind at are either missing the big picture, or are hopelessly swirling in their own bias.

Hes taking advantage of what the defense is giving him and he's doing it in a very effective and efficient manner that eliminates chances for turnovers and it's all part of the scheme.

Brady gives him choices and if one of the choices allows you to walk into the end zone, you walk.

You don't not walk into the end zone because "I'm a QB and I should be throwing the ball in". How epically STUPID would that be?

It's just like if you had some monster RB who could run the ball in effectively and consistently and you kept going to him instead of choosing to throw. Would the QB be considered less effective at his job if he went to the RB consistently? 

Oye .....

[LinvilleGorge]

1 hour ago, Jon Snow said:

I'm not praising or finding fault in his play.  I'm not advocating you praise him either. My comments were that no matter how hard this kid plays its not enough. It will never be enough for those that look to find fault.  It was the same for Cam and it will be the same for Sam.

Nah, you just wanted to act like I was being entirely negative toward Darnold when this thread is anything but that. It's okay. No player is perfect. No team is perfect. Critique is okay. Praise is okay. There just has to be some balance of the two or this place becomes an echo chamber.

[Jon Snow]

6 minutes ago, LinvilleGorge said:

Nah, you just wanted to act like I was being entirely negative toward Darnold when this thread is anything but that. It's okay. No player is perfect. No team is perfect. Critique is okay. Praise is okay. There just has to be some balance of the two or this place becomes an echo chamber.

You still don't get it.  That's ok.  I'll leave to your selective critiquing which only came after the first loss.

Edited October 5, 2021 by Jon Snow

[frankw]

1 hour ago, Mr. Scot said:

he can slide pretty well. Heck, he's hardly been touched the times he has run.

Frankly, my bigger concern when it comes to Darnold isn't how much he runs but how much he gets hit behind a porous offensive line.

I wouldn't count on that lasting through the season as teams get more tape on us. He will eventually run into a defense that will look to get a hit on him if we continue to use him in that capacity consistently. I'm not trying to take anything away from him but our quarterback is our most important asset so these things matter. I completely agree about behind this oline though. It's a shame we backed ourselves into this corner.

[cookinbrak]

36 minutes ago, rayzor said:

Hes taking advantage of what the defense is giving him and he's doing it in a very effective and efficient manner that eliminates chances for turnovers and it's all part of the scheme.

Brady gives him choices and if one of the choices allows you to walk into the end zone, you walk.

You don't not walk into the end zone because "I'm a QB and I should be throwing the ball in". How epically STUPID would that be?

It's just like if you had some monster RB who could run the ball in effectively and consistently and you kept going to him instead of choosing to throw. Would the QB be considered less effective at his job if he went to the RB consistently? 

Oye .....

You 'member that time Russell Wilson coulda handed the ball to Marshawn Lynch and won a SB, but thought passing would make him look better. I bet you Russell does....

Edited October 5, 2021 by cookinbrak

[Mr. Scot]

18 minutes ago, frankw said:

I wouldn't count on that lasting through the season as teams get more tape on us. He will eventually run into a defense that will look to get a hit on him if we continue to use him in that capacity consistently. I'm not trying to take anything away from him but our quarterback is our most important asset so these things matter. I completely agree about behind this oline though. It's a shame we backed ourselves into this corner.

Said elsewhere I don't expect it to continue at the rate it has, but I won't be terribly surprised if he does get more.