Carolina Panthers after week 1

I’m going to start things off on a positive note stating that I’m happy that Carolina won. Every week matters and you have to take wins as they come. The Jets are a rebuilding team who are likely headed back to a top 5 pick in 2022, but you can only play who’s scheduled and we went out and got things done. More of the good – Sam Darnold impressed me. It’s not fair to assess him by his tenure in NYJ because of how badly the roster and organization was, but I’d be disingenuous if I were to say that I was high on him. I still think Carolina should have taken Justin Fields or tried to move up for Trey Lance, but Darnold played well on Sunday. He can prove me dead wrong if he continues to do so.

I’d be shocked if the Jets won more than 6 games, so a win over them shouldn’t result in too much celebration. What’s most concerning to me is how Carolina let the Jets stick around and keep the game close. We have a young defense and a young QB, so we’re not going to have the room for error against better teams that we did on Sunday . The defense was disruptive, athletic, and fast, but it’s bothersome that we couldn’t fully shut Zach Wilson down in the fourth quarter. The defense did a really good job in the first half, forcing him into a rough opening to his debut. However, in classic Carolina Panther fashion, we let him get a groove going in the 2nd half and he ended up with an overall respectable game.

I imagine that Carolina is going to be in some shootouts this season, so when our defense has opportunities to close games, they’re going to need to do so. We won the game and ultimately did get the stops needed, but against a more seasoned QB and a more talented offense, that could easily have been a game that the Panthers lost.

Offensively, CMC looks back to form. He had nearly 100 yards rushing on 21 carries and added 89 yards receiving on 9 catches. McCaffrey looked quick, strong and explosive after missing the majority of last season. Carolina has a pretty strong core of WRs so I’m not sure if he’ll get 30 touches a game, but it was good to see him back to his 2019 self. The Panthers are going to go as Sam Darnold goes and he looked strong in his Panthers debut. Darnold was poised and displayed the talent for why he was taken 3rd overall.

I’ve been pretty harsh on the Panthers front-office decisions and they’re willingness to put all of their eggs in the basket on Sam Darnold, but this was a great step in the right direction of him proving himself as a bona fide franchise QB. I’m not going to read too much into a win over the Jets as the Panthers still have a ways to go of showing that they’re a potential playoff team. Darnold played well but I need him and Carolina to do so against this weekend’s matchup with the Saints before I get too excited about this season.