Sam Darnold replaced by P.J. Walker after jarring hit, head injury

Just one week after Sam Darnold was benched in a loss to the New York Giants, the Carolina Panthers quarterback was again taken out of the game on Sunday, this time due to a jarring hit to his head.

Midway through the fourth quarter against the Atlanta Falcons, Darnold dropped back in a shotgun formation, needing just 22 yard to punch it in for a Panthers touchdown. Darnold saw no open receivers, so he opted to run it himself; after picking up eight yards, Falcons linebacker Foyesade Oluokun crushed Darnold on the tackle. Darnold’s helmet came unbuckled and nearly fell all the way off, but perhaps the more dangerous part came on his way down. Darnold’s head made hard contact with the turf, and the whiplash forced the Panthers’ training staff onto the field immediately.

Sam Darnold took a hit 😳
pic.twitter.com/yoRdZt2n9Z

— PFF (@PFF) October 31, 2021

Darnold walked off the field on his own volition after the training staff attended to him for a few-minute period. Although the Panthers have not yet confirmed the diagnosis of Darnold’s injury, reports say that he suffered a concussion and will miss the rest of Sunday’s game.

Before leaving the game, Darnold completed 13 of his 24 passes for 129 passing yards, no touchdowns and no interceptions. He also took eight carries for 66 rushing yards, including a 20-yard scramble. The Panthers replaced Darnold with P.J. Walker, the backup that also played after Darnold’s benching against the Giants, and Walker helped Carolina punch it in a few plays later via a Chubba Hubbard rushing touchdown.

Darnold got off to a hot start in the 2021 season, completing no less than 67.7 percent of his passes in the Panthers’ first three games of the season. In that three-week period, he threw for 888 passing yards, three passing touchdowns and one interception, but perhaps more impressively, he ran for five touchdowns in the season’s first four weeks. However, Darnold quickly cooled down, and in a 25-3 loss to the Giants last week, he posted a mediocre performance, completing 16 of his 25 passing attempts for 112 passing yards, one interception and no scores. Walker, who relieved Darnold for the Panthers’ last few drives, completed three of 14 passing attempts for 33 yards, no touchdowns and no interceptions, and both quarterbacks were sacked three times.

The Panthers (3-4) hold a 19-10 lead over the Falcons (3-3) in the waning minutes of Sunday’s contest, and the Panthers will host the New England Patriots next week.