Sam Darnold Explains Infamous 'Seeing Ghosts' Comment From Patriots Game In 2019

BOSTON (CBS) -- If there's one team that Sam Darnold really doesn't enjoy seeing, it is most certainly the New England Patriots. The quarterback is 0-4 in his career vs. New England, having thrown just one touchdown and nine interceptions, while taking nine sacks, fumbling three times, and posting a passer rating of 41.2. It's pretty bad.

It was never worse than one Monday night in 2019, when Darnold -- then the Jets quarterback -- was wearing a microphone for ESPN and made the mistake of telling a coach that he was "seeing ghosts." Darnold was a grisly 11-for-32 for 86 yards with no touchdowns and four interceptions that night. It was the worst game of his career, as evidenced by his 3.6 passer rating. (The second-worst game of his career came last year with Carolina, also while facing the Patriots.)

Now two and a half years later, Darnold spoke about how that moment has impacted him since it played out on national TV.

"It's a tough thing to handle to this day," Darnold told Taylor Lewan on the "Bussin' With The Boys" podcast.

Darnold said that the term was used behind closed doors in the Jets' facility, so it wasn't uncommon for that particular phrase to be used with the Jets.

"It's interesting, because like, in our room, in the quarterback room, we would see guys kind of like in the pocket, you know how some quarterbacks flinch a little bit? We would say, 'Aw, they're seeing ghosts out there,'" Darnold explained. "And so like, I just like, said that to my coach at the time, you know, when we were down 40 to nothing. Because I was just pissed and didn't know what to say, to be honest. And it just happened, and they got it, on live TV."

While some at the time criticized ESPN for airing that particular mic'd up comment, Darnold accepted responsibility for saying what he said while wearing a microphone.

"No, it's for sure on me. I'll take that one to the grave," he said. "I'll take that one to the grave, no doubt."