4 keys to victory for the Carolina Panthers at NY Giants in Week 7
By Noah Bryce
Carolina Panthers need to make Sam Darnold comfortable
Sam Darnold may not be the second coming of Tom Brady, but no one expects him to be. The young quarterback, still only 24 years old, has shown that when given the time to make a couple of reads he can be an above-average player, although that’s not something we’ve seen much of over the last two games.
The main issue with Darnold’s game is how he tends to crumble when the vice of pressure starts to squeeze down on him. But that’s the case with most quarterbacks – there’s a reason why teams spend a lot of money on pass rushers.
We saw this point proven in the first three weeks of the season. Darnold was fantastic during that undefeated streak and a large part of that was a lack of being hit. When the former first-round pick is comfortable, he performs better. It’s as simple as that.
The next three, not so much.
Once teams started getting home on a regular basis, the quarterback reverted to old habits during his time with the New York Jets. Running from clean pockets and forcing the ball to covered receivers when secondary reads were wide open.
Darnold needs to believe that he can stand in the pocket for more than two seconds or he will continue to run around and make bad decisions.
With the current state of this offensive line that is much easier said than done. But without getting Darnold some type of comfort in the pocket, this team just can’t win and they’ll be back to square one.