McCaffrey helps with that as well, as he's excellent in pass protection (as he showed picking up a defensive tackle in the opener against the Jets).
But without a reliable running threat (Chuba Hubbard ran 16 times for 61 yards, and Rhule acknowledged they probably needed to run more often), everything is out of sorts, as Darnold was 8-of-24 when targeting Moore and Anderson in the passing game.
And yet, somehow, it almost still worked. Faced with a fourth-and-10 late, Darnold found tight end Ian Thomas for a 41-yard gain to give them life, before connecting with Moore for a 25-yard gain, and eventually Anderson for the touchdown, which allowed them to tie it with a two-point conversion shovel pass to Tommy Tremble.
There was some good stuff in there, but you really had to sift for it.
"What Sam needed today was a little bit of help from his friends at times," Rhule said. "He needed some plays to be made. We dropped a lot of balls. At the end, he makes that rope of a throw to Ian down the middle of the field, and Ian makes an unbelievable catch, and all of a sudden now it looks good. . . .
"I think when you're a quarterback who is a little bit out of sorts, a little out of whack, you need some guys to make some plays for you."
There weren't enough of those on the whole, however. They also lost third wideout Terrace Marshall Jr. to a concussion, and when Brandon Zylstra left with a hamstring injury in the first half, they looked confused and Darnold tried to call timeouts on back-to-back plays (which you can't do).
Darnold leading them on a 96-yard drive late to tie a game they shouldn't have been in made it look better, but the 210 yards in 58 minutes and all the mistakes before that are the things they can't allow.
They were the problems of a team that lacks an identity.
"I think we've got to figure it out," Darnold said. "We've got to understand what we're doing well, understand what we're not doing well, and I think we've just got to figure that out as players and everyone in the organization."
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Offense still looking for an identity - Panthers.com
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