What Panthers coach Matt Rhule said about Sam Darnold’s return, Cam Newton’s 4th-and-1
Carolina Panthers coach Matt Rhule was non-committal on naming Cam Newton the starting quarterback this week in what could be his final game in a Panthers uniform at Bank of America Stadium.
“We’ll continue to coach Cam, and continue to build off the good things he’s doing,” Rhule said Monday.
He noted that quarterback Sam Darnold, who has been out since Week 9 with a shoulder injury, has a doctor’s appointment Monday. The Panthers are hoping he can be cleared for contact practice.
The Panthers (5-9) are coming off their fourth consecutive loss and fifth loss in the past six games. Their 31-14 defeat to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday guaranteed them their fourth consecutive losing season.
Newton has run the ball well in his four starts over five games played with five rushing touchdowns, but he has struggled throwing the ball down field.
He has thrown four touchdowns and four interceptions, completed 54.9% of his passes and has a 67.9 passer rating this season. He has not thrown for more than 200 yards in any of the games he has played.
“If Sam is healthy, we will practice him and see kind of where he’s at,” Rhule said. “I think it’s a good opportunity to shake some of rust off him and see where he’s at in the process. I can’t speculate who will be the full-time guy until we have some more information.”
While Darnold struggled before his injury, he is owed $18.9 million next season, and remains the only quarterback likely to return, barring a trade. The Panthers picked up the fifth-year option on his contract before the season began.
Darnold has passed for seven touchdowns and 11 interceptions in nine games for Carolina. He has a 71.3 passer rating.
Rhule on fourth-and-1 play
Rhule walked back some of his critical comments of Cam Newton after Sunday’s 31-14 loss to the Bills, particularly on the unsuccessful fourth-and-1 conversion in the first quarter.
Rhule initially said the play was a zone read with the first two options intended to be a handoff to the running back or the quarterback keeping it. There was a bubble option if the safety came unblocked.
Newton threw to the bubble option, which became an incomplete pass.
“That was an error by the quarterback,” Rhule said Sunday.
But Monday, after watching film, Rhule said he could see what Newton was likely thinking.
“I think when you go back and look at it, the free safety was kind of rocking down a little bit, you can see some of the thought process that Cam had,” Rhule said Monday. “Obviously, we’re calling that play to run the quarterback. That being said, I’m sure Jeff (Nixon) would be the first to wish we had called something else.”
Rhule added the play, which was designed to be a quarterback run, was the same play the Panthers scored on last week against the Falcons in the first quarter on third-and-3.
“Even as such, we would still like to hand the ball off and have Ameer (Abdullah) run through the nickel,” Rhule said.
Panthers looking for options at kicker
Rhule said the general manager Scott Fitterer was looking for options at kicker to replace Zane Gonzalez, who suffered a quad injury in pregame warmups.
Rhule said he had not talked to doctors and wasn’t sure whether it was season-ending, but added that it looked pretty severe.
He handled kickoffs and place-kicking duties. He has made his last 17 field goal attempts, is 20 of 22 overall this season and 22 of 23 on extra-point attempts.
Rhule said the Panthers are hoping to have someone finalized over the next 24 hours. He said they could have one kicker on the practice squad and one active.
This story was originally published December 20, 2021 at 1:22 PM with the headline "What Panthers coach Matt Rhule said about Sam Darnold’s return, Cam Newton’s 4th-and-1."
