Watch: Panthers' Sam Darnold recovers his own fumble, stops, drops and rolls for touchdown

Darnold accounted for both Panthers' touchdowns in Sunday's victory. Besides his quote, unquote rushing score, Darnold connected with DJ Moore on a five-yard touchdown in the first quarter. 

The 25-year-old didn't have a blow-away performance but managed the game nicely, finishing 11-of-19 for 164 yards with two total touchdowns. 

The Panthers benched Baker Mayfield earlier this week, instead opting to start Darnold Sunday against the Broncos. 

Even with Sunday's win, at 4-8, the Panthers' 2022 campaign is going nowhere, and there's speculation that Carolina benched Mayfield in favor of Darnold over a draft pick. The 2024 conditional draft selection traded by Carolina to the Cleveland Browns in the deal for Mayfield in July will go from a fourth-round choice to a fifth-round pick if the quarterback fails to play at least 70 percent of the Panthers' snaps this season.