Panthers collapsed under McCaffrey’s last injury. It’s on Sam Darnold to prevent that

The Panthers hoped the injury concerns with Christian McCaffrey were over. They had hoped to never have another season similar to the one they did last year when they were without their best player.

McCaffrey missed 13 games in 2020, and offensively, the Panthers were a shell of themselves without him.

In Thursday’s game against the Texans, that reality played out again.

McCaffrey went out with a hamstring injury with 12:13 left in the second quarter and did not return. To make matters worse, the Panthers also lost rookie cornerback Jaycee Horn. Panthers coach Matt Rhule said after the game that Horn likely broke multiple bones in his foot and will miss some time. He did not know the severity of McCaffrey’s injury.

While the Panthers were winners Thursday, 24-9 over the Texans, they were nowhere near as good without McCaffrey as they were with him.

Thursday’s night’s win was a slogfest.

During the final 12:13 of the first half, the Panthers netted 17 total yards, which included the yards lost from the multiple sacks quarterback Sam Darnold took.

On the same drive McCaffrey went out, the Panthers had fourth-and-1 at the Houston 5-yard line and went for it, rushing with Chuba Hubbard up the middle but failed to gain a yard.

In the second half, the Panthers made adjustments. Darnold was impressive.

He led the Panthers on two touchdown drives, including a one-yard touchdown run with 4:12 left in the fourth quarter, which sealed the game.

Darnold has come a long way in just a short time.

Last year, he became an afterthought in the league after struggling with the Jets as questions arose whether he was a starting-caliber quarterback anymore.

But Thursday night, after throwing for 304 passing yards and rushing for two touchdowns, Darnold showed that he’s not the player he was last season.

Perhaps he can continue to help the Panthers win if McCaffrey is out for some time.

“He can ball,” Panthers linebacker Haason Reddick said when asked what Darnold showed Thursday. “He’s a flat out gamer. The guy is balling right now. I even remember looking up at the scoreboard and seeing that it was (304) passing yards. That’s impressive.”

But winning, even by 15 points, didn’t come easy.

Last season, when McCaffrey went down, they had a solid backup running back in Mike Davis, who was a threat in the passing game. But Carolina’s running game suffered, which put a lot of pressure on then-quarterback Teddy Bridgewater to produce. Davis had 642 yards rushing in 2020 and averaged 49 per game that McCaffrey didn’t play in, less than half of what the Panthers were used to getting from their star.

Bridgewater didn’t respond well to shouldering the weight of the offense, at least not to the level necessary, and the Panthers finished third in the NFC South at 5-11 and earning them the No. 8 pick in the draft. Offensive coordinator Joe Brady must devise a strategy for Darnold and Carolina to avoid suffering the same fate.

Those adjustments started to appear in the second half Thursday. Darnold passed for 146 yards in the second half, and added a rushing touchdown — his second of the game and third of the season to lead the team in that category.

Darnold said nothing changed when McCaffrey went out. The quarterback didn’t deliver a special message to his teammates, nor did he change up his style of play.

“For us, it’s just executing the plays that are called,” Darnold said.

Rookie running back Chuba Hubbard and backup Royce Freeman were used in tandem to combine for 69 yards on 16 carries and had their moments that flashed their potential. But neither is a threat in the passing game like McCaffrey. Hubbard had two drops, including one in the end zone before Darnold eventually scored on a sneak. He finished with three catches for 27 yards; Freeman had one catch for eight yards.

Rhule said he was pleased with Hubbard and Freeman’s play. But moving forward they’ll need to play like starting running backs.

He’s right. If they aren’t playing well, then that puts more pressure on Darnold.

McCaffrey took that pressure off Darnold. He makes the Panthers a dangerous team. They’re 3-0 for the first time since 2015 with him healthy for 2 games and a quarter. He leads the NFL in scrimmage yards (364) as a threat in the running and passing game. He’s a decoy when the ball isn’t coming his way.

Through the first two games of the season, McCaffrey accounted for 324 of the Panthers’ 784 total yards, or 41% of their offense.

The Panthers won’t play for another 10 days. For now, they can say they are 3-0 and lead the NFC South.

But if McCaffrey does miss significant time, they’ll have to get creative without him.

Next week, the Panthers play the Cowboys, who, after two weeks, look like they’re built for the playoffs. They went toe-to-toe with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 1. They enter the weekend fourth in the NFL in yards per game. And without Horn, the Panthers will be tested against wide receivers Amari Cooper and CeeDee Lamb.

However, the Cowboys have also given up the sixth-most yards on defense, which is good news for the Panthers, who could be without their star. For the Panthers though, they don’t seem too worried about the loss of McCaffrey.

Darnold said he told McCaffrey in the locker room to take his time in getting healthy and that they’d be OK. Starting offensive tackle Cameron Erving was a little more blunt.

“We’re a football team,” Erving said. “We’re not the Carolina Christian McCaffreys.”