JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A few days before Halloween, the ghost references were out at TIAA Bank Field.
The Jaguars and their fans had fun at the expense of Jets quarterback Sam Darnold, who was caught saying he was “seeing ghosts” last week while mic’d up against the Patriots on “Monday Night Football.”
About two hours before kickoff Sunday, a plane circled the stadium with a banner that read, “Gardner Minshew ain’t afraid of no ghosts.”
Then, the Jaguars’ mascot came out with a sheet on, mimicking a ghost costume. There were ghost signs and masks all over the stadium.
Darnold played poorly, throwing three interceptions Sunday in a 29-15 loss to the Jaguars. That led to the Jaguars’ final jab at him. During the two-minute warning, they played the theme from “Ghostbusters” in the stadium and showed his interceptions on the scoreboard.
Darnold said he was not bothered by any of it.
“It is what it is. It didn’t affect me,” Darnold said. “It’s just a silly thing for social media and fans to be able to try to use it against you. But for me, I was just playing bad because I did. I just wasn’t executing out there, I wasn’t putting the balls where they needed to be and — it wasn’t about that, though.”
Darnold can expect the ghost treatment at all opposing stadiums until he plays well enough for people to forget about the moment last Monday.
For more on Sam Darnold, listen to the latest episode of the “Gang’s All Here” podcast: