WATCH: Sam Darnold, Robby Anderson connect for touchdown against former team
Carolina Panthers quarterback Sam Darnold on Saturday scored his first-career touchdown in a Panthers uniform, and he did so in style: not only did he find wide receiver Robby Anderson for a 57-yard touchdown, but the two ex-New York Jets connected for their season-opening touchdown against their former team.
Better yet: Anderson, after scoring the touchdown, jogged across the end zone in celebration, holding his arms out and mocking the famous New York Jets touchdown celebration.
The touchdown pass was Darnold’s 13th completion of the day, throwing just 18 passing attempts. He’s turned the 13 completions into 192 passing yards and a touchdown, as the Panthers hold a 9-0 lead over the Jets with just under two minutes left in the half. Anderson, by comparison, made his first reception of the 2021 season on the play, and remains at 57 receiving yards.
Darnold enters his fourth NFL season but first as a member of the Carolina Panthers. The former New York Jets quarterback had a 13-25 record in three seasons in New York, completing a hair under 60 percent of his passes for over 8,000 passing yards, 45 passing touchdowns and 39 interceptions. He played alongside Anderson with the Jets.
In April of 2020, the Jets traded Darnold to the Panthers in exchange for a sixth-round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, along with a second-rounder and fourth-rounder in 2022. The Jets later drafted BYU quarterback Zach Wilson to replace Darnold.
Darnold, a former third-overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft by the Jets, had a stellar career with the USC Trojans, yielding his high draft stock. A two-sport high school athlete from San Clemente, California, Darnold was ranked a four-star recruit by most outlets before committing to USC. As a redshirt freshman starter in 2016, Darnold — the Pac-12 Offensive Freshman of the Year — led the Trojans to nine consecutive wins, culminating in a 2017 Rose Bowl victory. Darnold was later named a first team All-Pac-12 signal caller in 2017, and he finished his USC career with a 64.9 completion percentage, 7,229 passing yards, 57 passing touchdowns and 22 interceptions in two years as the Trojans’ starting quarterback.
Anderson, on the other hand, started his NFL career in 2016 as an undrafted wide receiver out of Temple. Anderson was signed by the Jets in 2016 after spending two seasons as a starter for the the Temple Owls, where in 24 games he racked up 114 receptions, 1,730 yards and 16 receiving touchdowns. Anderson was initially recruited as a defensive back, where he spent the majority of his redshirt freshman season practicing, but when Matt Rhule was hired to take over at Temple he switched Anderson to wide receiver.