3 winners and 3 losers from Carolina Panthers win vs. NY Jets in Week 1

Carolina Panthers offensive line

Okay, this one is tough to call a loser since the offensive line actually wasn’t all that bad. However, the unit still struggled and looked much worse in the second half of the game, being a big reason why the offense was unable to get much going after the first half.

Nobody really expected the Carolina Panthers’ protection to be that good this season, making expectations pretty low, to begin with. But when you look at the stat sheet, Sam Darnold only being sacked once isn’t a bad thing.

Darnold did do a good job on his own, though, avoiding some of the pressure he faced when the offensive line missed its assignments. The lone sack came after center Matt Paradis was dominated against his man.

After the game, head coach Matt Rhule said the unit wasn’t great but Darnold moved around a lot in the pocket.

A majority of the damage came in the third quarter right after halftime as New York’s defensive line came out swinging and put the protection in front of Darnold on roller skates at times.

In the first half when Darnold threw his touchdown to Robby Anderson, Rhule said the offensive line actually whiffed on the play, leading to Christian McCaffrey having to make a block to allow the signal-caller more time.

It wasn’t terrible. But there is still much improvement to be made with this unit for the Panthers to continue winning.