So... Sam Darnold. Are you encouraged or discouraged

[raleigh-panther]

I’m glad for

—Charlotte because there truly isn’t a more obnoxious group after a win then Steelers fans,  even in preseason 

—-the fans with an actual live game in the stands 

—- Darnold who was not horrible 

Darnold needed that preseason game, all the starters did,  no matter if it wasn’t the Steelers starters  playing  they can’t control that   

 

[weyco2000]

5 hours ago, hepcat said:

I’m not convinced Darnold is better than Bridgewater, they should have brought in a 2nd potential starting option. And just PS - I miss Cam

 

You hate Darnold because he isn’t Cam?

 

You’re not convinced Sam is better than Teddy?

 

Damn I’d hate to watch a game with you, you’re expectations are predetermined, so you’re watching with binders on. Football sounds dreadful for you, why bother being a fan?

[DaveThePanther2008]

I was only able to watch the highlights on Youtube.  They showed a quite a few of Darnold getting pressusre.   It's hard to agree with antsy.  He's stepping up, moving around and trying to find a target downfield before taking a sack or making a bad throw. (highlights showed one) Good coverage? Poor routes? Missed assignments? I don't know.  We have to figure this line out.  

What I did like is that he used all his weapons, Arnold, Hubbard, Marshall, DJ and Anderson.

I know this thread is on Darnold but DAMN Marshall is going to have a monster rookie year.

[mav1234]

Very encouraged. He started antsy, settled down, and showed very promising signs throughout.  He'll make mistakes but he had good ball placement most of the time and made some big league throws, especially that last drive.  Regardless of this was against 2s, he was solid, which is all we can ask for.

But look, the real story is the OL is total garbage and barring some major change we are going to have a lot of trouble because of it.

[cptx]

41 minutes ago, mav1234 said:

the real story is the OL is total garbage

yeah from what i see that is the weakest link in this team. bad weak link to have.

[pantherclaw]

At this point, I don't feel it matter whom the starting 5 is for the oline. They just need more playing time together. They looked like a bunch of individuals,  rather than a unit.  As I expected it to be with a little as teams are allowed to practice in full pads. The oline suffers greatly from this. 

 

[KatsAzz]

I'm encouraged and believe Sam Darnold will get better week after week as he builds more chemistry with the receivers. 

[kungfoodude]

It's preseason. Can't get excited about it at all.

If he does this against the Jets, then I will be happy about it.

[woahfraze]

My post at halftime in the gameday thread last night (right as half was ending, prior to the really nice throw to Marshall down the middle and the back shoulder TD to Robby):

Halftime thoughts on Darnold:

Looked quite good throwing the ball to the outside on short, out-breaking routes. Mixed bag in the intermediate part of the field--had a really good multi-progression read throw on 3rd down to DJ Moore.  But also missed Terrace Marshall Jr. and Robby badly over the middle.  The latter should have been picked. We didn't attempt anything deep, although that's probably by design, as I'm not sure the O-line could've provided enough time for the WRs to get downfield.  With the O-line, he may have less success moving forward in the short part of the field because teams will be able to tailor their game plan to that, sort of like they could against Teddy last year when they realized he just wasn't willing to throw down the field.

All in all, I'm cautiously optimistic about Darnold. Certainly somethings he needs to work on, and all of this was against second stringers, but the O-line hasn't done him any favors.  I'll reserve judgment until I've seen him in a couple real games.  But I'm decidedly worried about the O-line, and think they may prevent proper analysis of whether Darnold is/can be good or not.

[hepcat]

6 hours ago, glenwo2 said:

You actually saw a hard noodle before?  

Frankly, so long as he gets the job done, he could have the demeanor of a cardboard cut-out and no one here would give two s--ts.

We will see how he perform with the game on the line. That limp noodle demeanor doesn’t bode well for crucial moments. Bridgewater crumbled every time. Darnold remains to be seen.

[kungfoodude]

1 hour ago, pantherclaw said:

At this point, I don't feel it matter whom the starting 5 is for the oline. They just need more playing time together. They looked like a bunch of individuals,  rather than a unit.  As I expected it to be with a little as teams are allowed to practice in full pads. The oline suffers greatly from this. 

 

Well part of that is because they have been constantly being shuffled around to find the "best five." The truth is, we still probably haven't figured that out. 

I think there is a very real chance that shuffling lasts the entire 17 game schedule.

[micnificent28]

9 hours ago, mrcompletely11 said:

He has a better arm than cam

Wait what?

[hepcat]

3 hours ago, weyco2000 said:

 

You hate Darnold because he isn’t Cam?

 

You’re not convinced Sam is better than Teddy?

 

Damn I’d hate to watch a game with you, you’re expectations are predetermined, so you’re watching with binders on. Football sounds dreadful for you, why bother being a fan?

Lol bro you must watch the game with rose colored homer glasses on then. I’ve watched too much shitty Panthers football to have faith everything will be super great having a reject Jets QB who hasn’t been good anywhere he’s been.

Let’s not sit here and say that Darnold’s performance against backups on a team that did not seem to care about this game at all was something to celebrate. He wasn’t absolutely terrible but he wasn’t great either. He played acceptably against backups so it really didn’t show us much. If that performance was against the Steelers starters I’d be singing a different tune entirely.

At this time, no I’m not convinced he’s better than Teddy yet. He hasn’t done anything to do that yet in his career. But of course he’s barely played for this team. But on paper yep Darnold is worse than Teddy so far in his career by almost every measurable aspect.

And I just miss Cam because he was the man. He commanded respect on the field and had attitude. I’ve said this before, Darnold looks lost at times and has the demeanor of a limp noodle. That’s why I thought the panthers messed up not bringing in competition for him. Could have brought out some fire in either QB to win the job. 

But of course hope Darnold works out in the regular season because we don’t have any other options. He’s not my first second or third choice to be the QB of this team but I’ll support him until he’s not the QB anymore. 

[micnificent28]

6 hours ago, CanePantherHornet said:

You realize Cam can't do that anymore either right?

The comparison was not 31 years old cam vs 24 year old darnold. Purely talent prospect early in career base. And no darnold doesn't have the same arm strength as cam did..cams zip was elite.