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The Athletic not very impressed with Sam Darnold


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50 minutes ago, Adb6368 said:

Joe Brady played the Saints twice last year and lost… so that argument seems valid 

Thought the same thing.

Aside from that, IMO, he has shown progress but I'm still not all-in on him for the future here until he shows more and is consistent.  These 2nd halves, for the most part, have been absolutely atrocious.  If he could maintain his level of play from the first half and carry it an entire game, I would be ecstatic.  But, I just looked at the league passing leaders, and he is just outside of the top 15 on most categories, while Teddy, for sake of comparison, is within the Top 10 on most.  

So, Darnold is not the worst by any means, and grades out to just about average so far, but that is about as good as we could've hoped for 2 games, in considering how bad he looked with the Jets.  I'm hopeful, because he's shown flashes, and he's still young so the more comfortable he gets, the better chance he improves and grows in this offense...  but, crap like that pick yesterday and the almost pick at the beginning of the game into double coverage - that's gotta go.  You can't throw either of those balls, EVER.

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I've read a couple of the same takes on Sam and its fair to do at this point. I see him improving by listening to the coaches, knows the scheme and is throwing receivers open. I've never understood why its hard for QBs to throw to the sidelines when in trouble, but that needs to improve now.

But he's doing good and with a solid Panther's D (now w/ AJ) I think we are on schedule. If Sam can get incrementally better every game we will surprise some top teams this season- like maybe the Bills/Bucs.

 

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Sando's not a moron. He may in fact be one of the smarter analysts out there.

What he may be guilty of though is not doing the thing that Albert Breer said he should, i.e paying attention to the Panthers.

That's something a lot of national analysts have done for a lot of years.

And to be fair, we generally haven't given them too many reasons to do otherwise.

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I am solidly on the Darnold train. He is our guy and we will ride as far as he takes us. Is he the future? Right now he is doing great. Why look too far ahead? Like the team I am just taking it as we go. I have been a Panther long enough to know that you can't predict the future easily. Sometimes we expect to be good and suck. Other times like in 2015 we expect to suck and we don't.  Look ahead and worry all you want. I am going to ride this as far as it goes and enjoy the ups and downs. Hopefully more ups than downs.

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4 hours ago, Madwolf said:

They need to give credit where it's due. Sam balled out yesterday.

I said this in another thread but it's worth repeating.

Darnold may be the most accurate passer the Panthers have ever had. He had multiple pin point passes yesterday. I was very impressed.  His second TD to Moore was a bullet that hit the bullseye.

He stood tall many times in a collapsing pocket and delivered a good pass. He wasn't perfect but rarely QBs are. 

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The only thing I’d like to see more from Sam and Brady is a designed run now and again. He’s got wheels and the bootlegs are great. Not asking for QB draws or option plays like cam but a couple times a game scheme a run to keep the front 7 honest 

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10 minutes ago, RJK said:

The only thing I’d like to see more from Sam and Brady is a designed run now and again. He’s got wheels and the bootlegs are great. Not asking for QB draws or option plays like cam but a couple times a game scheme a run to keep the front 7 honest 

No thanks.  Just handed it to CMC.  That's what he we pay him to do. 

Sam Darnold still has a really weird turnover juju.    From college to pros.   If he plays a football game, he turns it over.    I don't want to intentionally work him in as a rusher at this stage. 

college - 27 games - 36 turnovers

nfl 40 games - 42 turnovers.   Including 1 in each game for the Panthers.   

That's just weird stuff. 

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3 hours ago, Mr. Scot said:

Sando's not a moron. He may in fact be one of the smarter analysts out there.

What he may be guilty of though is not doing the thing that Albert Breer said he should, i.e paying attention to the Panthers.

So don't write it/comment on it. That actually is what defines an intelligent person, at least partially. If you don't know something then don't say it. But that whole Brady has the 3rd Saints game circled is classic dumbassery from pundits. He clearly didn't know this wasn't the first game vs the Saints for Brady.

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