Much has been made in the last 24-plus hours about Sam Darnold's "seeing ghosts" comment that was picked up by the microphone he was wearing and aired on the ESPN Monday Night Football broadcast.
And while some Jets, including Le'Veon Bell and head coach Adam Gase were upset that ESPN aired the comments, some former NFL QBs went into more detail on what that term actually means for a quarterback, and how it's far more common among young QBs than many fans might think.
One of those former QBs was Brett Favre, who went in-depth on his SiriusXM Radio show on what it actually means for a quarterback to "see ghosts."
"That's a term that Mike Holmgren would say to me quite often, my first one, two, three years with the Packers. It's not a new term," Favre explained. "Quite frankly, I'm not surprised. A young player - the quarterback, especially - will have a tendency to see "ghosts." You know, you hear the term a lot, 'It's slowing down for him,' and that is kind of the opposite of seeing ghosts.
"You know, you go from one level - high school to college, college to pros - and each time, there's sort of a maturation level. The speed, really. The game itself is not that different. You still lineup with 11. You still throw it, you still run it. You lineup in shotgun, under center and so on and so forth. What's different is 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. And so this is the learning curve for him."
Darnold had a night to forget in the 33-0 loss to the Patriots, completing just 11 of 32 passes for 86 yards with four interceptions.
Despite Darnold's rough night, Favre still has faith in the Jets' signal caller to learn from the experience and move forward.
"I don't know Sam Darnold. I feel like, just my interpretation of what I see, I think he's going to be really good, if he can survive the onslaught," said Favre. "Seeing ghosts is, 'I thought the guy was blitzing,' or, 'I saw the safety back up into deep coverage,' and then you watch the film and that's not the case.
"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. You've got to go in and play. You've 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."
Outside of Favre, Kurt Warner also gave his thoughts on the matter, saying that 'seeing ghosts' is something that every single quarterback has dealt with at some point.
Can we quit making a big deal of #SamDarnolds "Seeing Ghosts" reference - if you have ever played the position at NFL level you have been in a situation where u have seen "ghosts" - even the great @TomBrady! It happens & u have to fight against allowing it to affect you!
- Kurt Warner (@kurt13warner) October 22, 2019
Darnold will look to shake off the performance and get back on track this Sunday against the Jaguars.