4 critical observations from Sam Darnold’s performance vs. the Vikings
By Dean Jones
Sam Darnold’s clock issues
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.
Sam Darnold and the Carolina Panthers once again suffered some real complications when it came to clock management. Something that caused delay of game penalties and had the time almost running out on a multitude of different plays throughout the game.
Just why this is constantly happening is uncertain. Whether it’s the play coming in late, Darnold doing too much at the line of scrimmage, or simply failing to read the defensive set-up fast enough, it’s another problem that’s really hampering this offense.
We are now six weeks into the season. So Darnold being new to the scheme can no longer be used as an excuse.
Of all Carolina and Darnold’s problems, this one seems to be the most fixable. Just being aware of how much time is on the clock consistently would help.
It’s poor situational football.
And it has to stop.
At some stage, people need to be held accountable. The coaching staff needs to be better and Darnold has to get his team up to the line ready to go to avoid these problems moving forward.
Otherwise, things are going to get a lot worse.