Perhaps “seeing ghosts,” is a curse that follows any New York Jets quarterback, not just Sam Darnold. At least, that’s what New England Patriots outside linebacker Kyle Van Noy seems to believe. Van Noy, who is watching his Patriots take on the Jets from a couch somewhere due to a throat injury, hilariously tweeted “Ghosts again ?!?” after Jets rookie quarterback Zach Wilson threw his fourth interception of the game.
Ghosts again ?!?
— Kyle Van Noy (@KVN_03) September 19, 2021
This is of course a reference to the Jets’ brutal 33-0 loss to the Patriots back in 2019, in which then-quarterback Darnold had one of the most horrendous games in recent memory. Darnold happened to be mic’d up that game, and the broadcast caught him telling a teammate “I’m seeing ghosts.”
Boston sports radio host Alex Barth pointed out just how eerily similar that showing is to Wilson’s current disaster:
Sam Darnold in the 'seeing ghosts' game:
11/32, 86 yards, 4 INTs, sack, 3.6 QB rating
Zach Wilson so far today:
4/10, 54 yards, 4 INTs, 18.3 QB rating— Alex Barth (@RealAlexBarth) September 19, 2021
The Patriots are currently destroying the Jets 22-3.
To be fair to Wilson, this is just his second NFL game. The 22-year-old (the same age Darnold was when he saw ghosts) clearly still has a long way to go before he can be an effective quarterback on a consistent basis, and games like these could be a great learning experience for him if he doesn’t allow the criticism to get to his head too much.