NFL Notes: Sam Darnold, Bengals, Jets, Panthers

Sam Darnold

One NFL scout compared USC Sam Darnold to Hall of Fame Cowboys QB Troy Aikman.

“That’s the first pick in the draft. Troy Aikman, to a T. The whole package. Instincts in the pocket, how he moves, the arm, and he’s accurate as all get-out,” the scout told Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated.

Bengals

• Ian Rapoport reports that Bengals rookie WR John Ross (knee sprain) is expected to make his pro debut tonight.

Jets

According to Jets DL Muhammad Wilkerson, HC Todd Bowles called out their unit after a disappointing Week 1 showing.

“Our room, we take a lot of pressure. Coach even called us out,” Wilkerson said, via the New York Daily News. “We take pride in ourselves and our work, and we definitely accepted the challenge and know we got to play better this week. . . .

“We men. I feel like as a man, you should definitely want to accept that challenge.”

“We took that very personally,” Jets DT Steve McLendon added. “We’re held to a certain type of standard here, and coach asked us before the game: ‘What kind of standard are we held to?’ And we told him, and we didn’t hold up our end of the bargain. So he put us on, he told us in the meeting. ‘Hey, D line, it’s on y’all.’ We know what kind of standard we’re held to here. And all we want to do is play hard, play smart and dominate up front.”

Panthers

Panthers QB Cam Newton said he does not worry about appeasing players by spreading the ball around to everyone.

“When that play call is called, it’s up for me to go wherever the defense dictates the ball to go, and not picking any favors, not picking any type of person that hasn’t touched the ball, yet,” Newton said, via Joe Person of the Charlotte Observer. “I’ll leave that solely up to coach Shula and his staff.”