Ghost comment haunts Sam Darnold against the Jaguars

If you have kids and you live near New York Jets quarterback Sam Darnold, please, please, please do not dress them up as ghosts and send them to his house.

Last week, there was a bit of controversy after Darnold was shown on ESPN saying, “I’m seeing ghosts,” during a horrible outing against the New England Patriots. And the team the Jets played Sunday, the Jacksonville Jaguars, leaned into that statement.

The Jaguars’ mascot, Jaxson de Ville, wore a sheet over his costume throughout the game. You might think it was because he was embarrassed over his name, but no, he was dressing as a ghost to get under Darnold’s skin. Jaguars defensive players yelled “Boo” to Darnold during the game and a plane flew a banner saying, “Gardner Minshew ain’t afraid of no ghost!” Minshew is the Jaguars quarterback. Fans also got into the spirit by wearing sheets carrying signs related to ghosts.

And it may have worked, as Darnold was sacked a career-high eight times and threw three interceptions in a 29-15 loss. Afterward, Darnold said, “It is what it is. It didn’t effect me. It’s just a silly thing for social media and for fans to try to use against you but for me, I was just playing bad because I did.”

Playing scared

The Denver Broncos fell to 2-6 after losing Sunday to the Indianapolis Colts, 15-13, and quarterback Joe Flacco pointed a finger at the coaches afterward.

“I mean, come on. I just look at it like, we’re now a 2-6 football team and we’re like afraid to go for it in a two-minute drill. Like, who cares if you give the ball back to the guys with 1:40 left? It’s 3rd-and-5 at the end of the game, who cares if they have a timeout there at the end or not? Getting in field goal range isn’t that tough. You’re just putting your defense in these bad situations and I just felt like, ‘What do we have to lose, why can’t we be aggressive in some of these situations.’ That’s kind of how I feel about a lot of the game today.”

Flacco seems to be unhappy with coach Vic Fangio deciding to punt the ball on fourth-and-five with 1:48 left. The Colts had no timeouts left at that point, so converting on fourth down could have iced the game for the Broncos. Instead, the Colts put together a drive that led to a game-winning 51-yard field goal by Adam Vinatieri.