Carolina Panthers: Injuries poison studs and duds from win over Texans
Carolina Panthers Stud vs. Texans: Sam Darnold, QB
It’s starting to seem like Sam Darnold really might’ve just needed to get away from Adam Gase and New York. Because for the third straight week (and victory), the Panthers quarterback whom they traded for this offseason looked quite good.
The stat line for Darnold is impressive as he went 23-of-34 for 304 yards while also rushing for two touchdowns on the night, both of which were nice plays by the former first-round pick. Those numbers look even better when you consider that he spent much of the game without McCaffrey, arguably the offense’s best weapon, on the field.
Darnold still has some bad habits and development to go. There were some potentially explosive plays, such as the one mentioned when talking about Moore, that the signal-caller missed. All told, though, he’s been in control and has been night and day to what he looked like with the Jets.
Carolina Panthers Studs vs. Texans: Brian Burns and Haason Reddick
While the defensive front as a whole for the Panthers was pretty non-descript for most of this game, the edge rushing duo of Brian Burns and Haason Reddick, who the team signed in free agency this offseason, continued to wreak havoc. They created consistent pressure off the edge and filled up the box score as a result.
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Burns finished the game with one sack, one pass defense and a tackle for loss while Reddick added 1.5 sacks and three QB hits to his ledger. Burns is clearly becoming one of the best pure pass rushers in the NFL this season but what’s been a big boost for Carolina is Reddick being able to benefit from that by playing opposite him.