Panthers vs. Cardinals Spread Moves Following Sam Darnold Injury Update

The Carolina Panthers quickly realized that Sam Darnold is not the missing piece they were looking for to regain competitiveness in the NFL. He was awful against the New England Patriots. Darnold went 16-for-33 with 172 yards and three interceptions. He did technically throw an 88-yard touchdown, but it was to Patriots’ CB J.C. Jackson off a pick-six. 

It might have been the last straw for Darnold’s season as the Panthers starter if Darnold didn't leave due to circumstance. Darnold suffered a fracture in his right shoulder blade during the last week’s game that will keep him out for the next few weeks. While most teams would be thrown into a downward spiral after the loss of a starting quarterback, the Panthers were already in crash and burn mode. 

As can be expected, when the news broke of Darnold's injury, the Jets odds to beat the Cardinals in Week 10 took a hit. The spread for this game opened at WynnBET Sportsbook at -10 in favor of the Cardinals and but has ticked up a half-point in the wake of the news. 

What this tells me is that the bookmakers think that backup QB P.J. Walker is only slightly worse than Darnold. Walker has been used sparingly in his two seasons with the Panthers, totaling just 71 attempts in his career. This season, Walker has attempted 15 passes, but has only completed just three.

As bad as Darnold has been, at least he managed a completion percentage of 59.5. Walker’s career game came last season against the Detroit Lions when he went 24-34 with 285 yards He added a touchdown, but was intercepted twice. The Panthers did shut out the Lions 20-0, but the Lions are terrible. I am not counting his XFL stats here, but he was one of the most successful players in the most recent iteration of the league. What I gather from all this is that Walker excels when playing the lowest-tier opponents: The Lions and the XFL. 

The fact that the injury to Darnold hardly moving the odds is a big red flag for betting on them this week. I don’t think they had much value +10 and even less with a 10.5 spread and Walker under center.