NFL fans got an inside look into the mind of a quarterback on Monday when ESPN decided to mic up Sam Darnold for the Jets' 33-0 blowout loss to the Patriots, and it was quite the haunting look.
Although players get mic'd up all the time, it's very rare that you actually get to hear anything notable. However, that changed on Monday.
In a game where Darnold struggled from start to finish, the viewer got an inside look into his frustrations with New England's defense when he blurted out that the Patriots had him "seeing ghosts," which has nothing to do with the fact that Halloween is less than 10 days away.
So what exactly does it mean when a quarterback is seeing ghosts?
Brett Favre answered that exact question this week during an interview with SiriusXM NFL Radio. The Hall of Famer pointed out that it's something that usually happens to young quarterbacks.
"Seeing ghosts is, 'I thought the guy was blitzing, I saw the safety back up into deep coverage,' and then you watch the film and that's not the case," Favre said. "It's really nothing other than being a young player, being exposed to a lot of stuff, and really not so much thrown to the wolves, I don't think Adam Gase did anything wrong."
To put that in layman's terms: The Patriots defense hit Darnold so often in the game that he started throwing the ball earlier, even on plays when no one was close to him. As Favre mentioned, that can be the feeling where you think someone is blitzing, but there's not actually anyone there. Here's a look at one throw Darnold made before a rusher even got near him.
As Favre also mentioned, the ghosts can be in the secondary. If you think you see a safety in coverage, you might not throw the ball, when in fact, there's no safety there and your receiver is wide open.
According to the Ol' Gunslinger, his old coach with the Packers, Mike Holmgren, used to talk about "seeing ghosts" all the time.
"That's a term that Mike Holmgren would say to me quite often," Favre said. "My first one, two, three years with the Packers. It's not a new term. Quite frankly, I'm not surprised. A young player -- a quarterback, especially -- will have a tendency to see ghosts. You hear the term a lot, 'It's slowing down for him,' and that is kind of the opposite of seeing ghosts."
According to Favre, a quarterback is more likely to be seeing ghosts at the NFL level because players are more athletic and defenses are more exotic.
"You go from one level -- high school to college, college to pros -- and each time, there's sort of a maturation level," Favre said. "In high school, you may have one or two really good players, either on your side or the other side. College, then you got eight, maybe nine, maybe 11, which would be rare, but when you get to the pros, that pool of really good players becomes bigger, and so you're facing more exotic defenses or better talent, and the speed of the game is fast. This is the learning curve for him."
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Despite Darnold's struggles against the Patriots -- he threw four interceptions and ended with just 86 passing yards -- Favre thinks the second-year quarterback still has the talent to be a good player in the NFL.
"I don't know Sam Darnold, just my interpretation of what I see, I think he's going to be really good if he can survive the onslaught," Favre said. "You got to go in and play, you got to go with all your guns blazing, and if he makes mistakes, he makes mistakes. The key is that you learn from them, and you're going to make more. He's going to see more ghosts, and over time, the thought is that you see less and less, and you become very familiar with your offense, and I think that's something that's often overlooked. I mean, this is a new offense to him."
It's a good explanation from Favre, who clearly understands what Darnold is going through. Now, the Jets quarterback just needs to put the entire "seeing ghosts" thing behind him and move forward, which actually might not be that easy. The fact that Darnold's "seeing ghosts" comments aired on Monday has turned into a controversy with Jets coach Adam Gase and Le'Veon Bell both calling out ESPN. Of course, it wasn't ESPN's fault, an NFL films representative had to approve the audio from the mic'd up segment before it was allowed to be used on-air, so if the Jets want to be mad at anyone, they should be directing their anger at NFL Films.