The Sam Darnold revenge game is off to an interesting start.
The Carolina Panthers‘ new quarterback hasn’t been perfect so far in his first game against his former New York Jets club, losing a fumble at the Jets’ 8-yard line and taking four first-half sacks.
But Darnold was able to sting his old team late in the second quarter, lacing a 57-yard bomb to none other than Robby Anderson, another player who survived his Jets tenure to thrive elsewhere.
That touchdown gave the Jets a 9-0 lead, with new Panthers kicker Ryan Santoso botching the extra-point try. It came after the Panthers stuffed the Jets on a fourth-and-1 the possession before.
Darnold and Anderson were a pretty decent pair in New York, connecting for 88 passes for 1,353 yards and 11 TDs over the course of the 2018 and 2019 seasons, despite Darnold missing six games in that span (and Anderson missing two).
But Darnold also did some work on his own later in the first half. After Jets QB Zach Wilson was sacked for a big loss, they punted back to Carolina and Darnold made them pay. He completed all five passes on the final Carolina drive of the half and capped it with a 5-yard TD run.
Darnold completed 17 of 22 passes for 234 yards with two TDs — one each running and passing. In his 38 starts with the Jets, Darnold surpassed 234 yards for the game in only 11 of them.
Any regret, Jets? Likely not, but with Wilson off to a slow start and Darnold gashing them on the other side, it’s not the start to Week 1 that New York hoped for.