We had Sam Darnold

[frankw]

Darnold flashed the physical talent here but let's be real his decision making was also at times absolutely atrocious. That was always the only question with him. He checked every other box. Really he was more a victim of timing here more than anything. Rhule as his coach certainly did him no favors. And the interior OL when he was here was disgusting. For all the cries about the OL Bryce's rookie season it was much worse before. Now we have the highest paid OL in the league and people actually tried to rationalize 54 passing yards in an entire game lmao.

All in all Darnold has made significant strides and while certainly coaching matters I think that is much more than just that. Adversity and being dumped and passed over seems to have had just as much if not more of an impact for his present day progression.

[strato]

On 1/25/2026 at 10:02 PM, NCBlu said:

Sam + Wilks would be a lot farther along in the rebuild. They wanted to run ball play D.

Our new offensive HC wants to run the ball play D... huh

Wilks wanted to. Canales has to. 

[frankw]

Canales certainly has his faults but what semblance of a passing game he's been able to create at times with Bryce Young is admittedly impressive.

I mean Wilks had both Darnold and Mayfield at one point and managed to flat out get his ass handed to him by the Bengals. He's bounced around the league ever since for a reason.

[strato]

13 minutes ago, frankw said:

Canales certainly has his faults but what semblance of a passing game he's been able to create at times with Bryce Young is admittedly impressive.

I mean Wilks had both Darnold and Mayfield at one point and managed to flat out get his ass handed to him by the Bengals. He's bounced around the league ever since for a reason.

Wake me up when we can break the run game blockade that a good defense puts up, by throwing the ball. Get back to two dimensional through our passing game. 
 

[frankw]

1 minute ago, strato said:

Wake me up when we can break the run game blockade that a good defense puts up, by throwing the ball. Get back to two dimensional through our passing game. 

If Canales has any interest in his job security he has already had conversations with Dan Morgan about upgrading the QB room this year.

[Double Trouble]

I always believed in you Sam, even when people made fun of me for defending you :’) 

[Beast_3000]

On 1/27/2026 at 7:48 PM, frankw said:

Canales certainly has his faults but what semblance of a passing game he's been able to create at times with Bryce Young is admittedly impressive.

I mean Wilks had both Darnold and Mayfield at one point and managed to flat out get his ass handed to him by the Bengals. He's bounced around the league ever since for a reason.

I know Wilks was not the answer but for you to rate the former defensive backs coach that was handed the head coach position without an offseason or real choice of offensive play caller is really short sighted.

To think any coach could have done a better job with the hand he was dealt at mid-season is quite interesting. He relied on the two stable elements we had at the time, which were a decent defense and run game

[Beast_3000]

On 1/27/2026 at 9:26 PM, Double Trouble said:

I always believed in you Sam, even when people made fun of me for defending you :’) 

Yeah I agree. I believed in Sam too. Through all the turmoil and change Darnold was the only quarterback we have had with the size, physical tools and scrambling ability to be effective. (excluding Cam for obvious reasons) You could see more good than bad and  he showcased enough in his decision making and ball placement to allow him to develop. We just had the wrong coaching staff and front office. 

Tepper and Fitz really screwed up things. 

[frankw]

56 minutes ago, Beast_3000 said:

I know Wilks was not the answer but for you to rate the former defensive backs coach that was handed the head coach position without an offseason or real choice of offensive play caller is really short sighted.

To think any coach could have done a better job with the hand he was dealt at mid-season is quite interesting. He relied on the two stable elements we had at the time, which were a decent defense and run game

He hasn't lasted at any team he's been with going back to the Cardinals. I like him as a person but as a coach it is what it is brosef.

[Panthers Fan 69]

Big congrats. Have the panthers ever had a Super Bowl winning qb on the roster? Past or present

[shaq]

Gotta say I can’t imagine any Panthers fan not being happy to see Sam win a ring, he is a good dude. He flashed here and never complained about his poor circumstances here. Pretty sure both of his seasons here we brought in another QB to take his spot(Cam then Baker). Truth is he was never going to win a ring here and he needed to go to Shannahan and O’Connell to unlock that next part of his game. Cheers to Sam!

Edited February 9 by shaq

[mrcompletely11]

Darnold tried like hell to give the game away last night.  His defense didnt allow it though

[Shotgun]

I can’t remember a Super Bowl with worse QBs. Both coaching staffs had to try and hide their own QBs in the freakin SB. Every pass darnold made was nearly picked off and Maye could barely even compete a pass. Snooze fest of a game.

[Mage]

10 minutes ago, Shotgun said:

I can’t remember a Super Bowl with worse QBs

I can think of one...