Sam Darnold’s “Ghosts” Comment Sets Off a Fire-and-Twitter-Storm

What are three top things you never want to hear your franchise quarterback say?

1. “I’m retiring to pursue my acting career”
2. “I’m legally colorblind”
3. “I’m seeing ghosts”

Darnold’s comment was extraordinary in and of itself, as were the many reactions to it as Twitter immediately went ablaze with amazement. He made the comment while mic’d up during the 33-0 blowout loss to the Patriots on Monday Night Football. Finishing with four interceptions and a 3.6 passer rating, it was one of the worst performances for a QB in Jets history. For weeks now, Patriots LB Kyle Van Noy has literally been campaigning for people to call the Patriots defense the “Boogeymen”. When told of Darnold’s now-infamous comment, Van Noy replied: “Oh, he did? Oh man, that’s the ‘Boogeymen’, it’s real.” He stopped for the moment as a reporter began to ask another question, then it hit Van Noy again…

“He really said that? Oh man. That’s crazy for him to say that. That makes it real, you know what I’m saying?”, he exclaimed with a huge grin on his face. “That’s crazy. I mean, I can’t believe he said that … I’m lost for words for a second. But I think it’s just a testament to how well we’re playing, to be honest.”

-Kyle Van Noy

His reaction show’s just how profound it is to hear an NFL quarterback actually say he’s seeing things that aren’t there. It’s something that players and coordinators are constantly attempting to achieve with different line stunts, fake blitzes, and other deceptive motions on defense. They rarely get to know how it is affecting the opposing QB psychologically, if at all. In fact, when Jets head coach Adam Gase learned of it, he was furious that the comment made the air at all.

There is an unwritten rule of sorts between the teams and NFL Films, which uses the audio from mic’d up players in their various post-game productions. The teams do it for the growth and betterment of the game, with the understanding that NFL Films won’t put out any revealing audio about their players, team strategy, or anything that could make the club look bad. Well, apparently the on-site representative from NFL Films cleared the comment for air – whether there will be any consequences for that individual remains to be seen.

Why such a hullabaloo over three little words? Well, imagine you’re a Jets fan, paying your hard-earned money to see your team win. Here is the future of your franchise, drafted third overall in 2018, admitting something that is considered to be a fatal flaw for a professional quarterback. Something that a great quarterback would never admit aloud – even if they did, would have the wherewithal to not say it while mic’d up on national television! Undoubtedly, some of them felt that way at one point or another during their career, but once is one time too many.

It’s a flaw that suggests with the right scheme and the right looks, this quarterback can be confused to the point where he is unable to perform his job. There are quarterbacks we know that to be true, we’ve just never heard them say, in so many words, “I don’t know what the hell I’m doing out here” while making millions of dollars to be the knower of what to do. As a Jets fan, you may begin to rethink how you’re spending all that hard-earned money. Now, is this the end of Sam Darnold’s career? Of course not. He’s not the first young quarterback to struggle, or even to see ghosts out there on the field. The 22-year-old will bounce back, and have plenty of opportunities to grow, and learn how to read NFL defenses – something that takes years for most quarterbacks to master. It’s unfortunate Darnold’s comment made it to air, it never should have. But now defenses know they can spook the young QB. Perhaps worse, his coaches and his teammates know it too.