Sam Darnold thinks his “seeing ghosts” comment that went viral during a “Monday Night Football” game earlier this season against the New England Patriots was blown out of proportion.
Back in October, Darnold was playing his second game since returning from mono. He went 11/32 for 86 yards and four interceptions as his New York Jets lost 33-0. Darnold was wearing a microphone for the game, and ESPN shared a clip of the quarterback admitting on the sidelines he was “seeing ghosts.”
Darnold addressed the comment during an interview with FOX’s Kristina Pink prior to the Thursday night game between his Jets and the Baltimore Ravens.
“At the moment, I wasn’t even thinking ‘I’m mic’d up, if I say this, these are going to be the repercussions for it.’ After the game, one of my buddies sent it to me on Instagram to be funny. I was like, ‘bro, we just got whooped, that’s not funny.’
“It got blown out of proportion, but it was definitely something that I learned from.”
Darnold’s remark became both a catchphrase and controversy. Jets head coach Adam Gase was upset with ESPN for airing the comments, while some with the Patriots were pleased about it, feeling it was an endorsement of their defense. And just like Darnold said he has learned from it, Gase says the young quarterback has grown since then too.
