Sam Darnold Will Start Panthers' Season Finale at New Orleans

No change at quarterback for the Panthers in Week 18.

The big story this week will be whether or not the Carolina Panthers will look to play some more of its younger talent against the New Orleans Saints with the playoffs no longer in reach. 

One thing that won't change is who is in command of the huddle - Sam Darnold. 

It doesn't come as a surprise by any means considering 1. how well Darnold has played since returning from injury and 2. there's no one else that the team would want to take a look at. They know what they have in P.J. Walker and rookie Matt Corral is still recovering from a Lisfranc injury that he suffered in preseason play.

Darnold had another good day throwing the ball in the 30-24 loss to Tampa, completing 23-of-37 passes for 341 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception. In addition to the interception, Darnold put the ball on the ground twice leading to 10 points for the Bucs. The first fumble appeared to be a miscommunication of sorts as Darnold wasn't expecting the ball to be snapped and the second was just a blindside hit where rookie left tackle Ickey Ekwonu got beat off the edge by Anthony Nelson.

Interim head coach Steve Wilks discussed what he would have liked to have seen on the interception but also pointed out some of the good we saw from Sam.

"As I just explained in the team meeting, the post safety cut the over route, Dean, the backside corner, didn't climb to the middle of the field so the post was wide open. We got to throw it out there. We got a tight end that's 6'4" against a smaller corner. That ball should have been over the top. Either Sully catches it or it goes through the end zone.

"Sam did some outstanding throws to try to loosen those guys up a bit in throwing the ball. We made some plays down the seam with Gio [Ricci]. He made a great throw to DJ [Moore] on the sideline."

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