Mark Sanchez on Panthers QB Sam Darnold: ‘He hasn’t had a legitimate chance’

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There’s no way to spin it. Sam Darnold’s numbers from his three-season run with the Jets were not good. Neither was the team’s win/loss record. New York went 13-25 with Darnold as the starting quarterback. During that time he completed less than 60% of his passes and posted more turnovers (59) than touchdowns (50).

Then again, to blame it all on Darnold would be ignorant of the circumstances. It’s difficult for any one man to turn around a team as unfortunate as the Jets. The last quarterback who led them to the playoffs (or was there when it happened) was Mark Sanchez back in 2010-2011. In the decade since, the franchise has become a punchline everywhere from SNL to Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Sanchez says that Darnold hasn’t been given a real chance, per Joe Person at the Athletic.

“So to make any judgment on him based on his circumstances now and just say either thumbs up, thumbs down, good or bad, is just premature. Because he hasn’t had a legitimate chance to make anything happen with real weapons. It makes it very difficult when you’re playing with guys like that. There’s a lot on the quarterback, and he’s still learning a lot.”

Sanchez is correct.

In Carolina, Darnold will have much more firepower than he ever had in New York. Also, at least in theory he should perform better with offensive coordinator Joe Brady calling the plays as opposed to an unnecessarily complicated mix of Adam Gase and Dowell Loggains.

Unless the offensive line turns out to be a total failure, Darnold and his fans won’t have the excuse that he doesn’t have a solid supporting cast with the Panthers.

What remains to be seen is exactly how much of a leap Darnold can make himself with the right help.

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