Gase, Jets bothered by ESPN airing Darnold's 'seeing ghosts' clip
Sam Darnold's reaction to the New England Patriots' relentless defense went viral Monday night.
The New York Jets quarterback threw four interceptions and lost a fumble during a 33-0 loss. Darnold was mic'd-up for the game, and ESPN aired a clip of the sophomore quarterback admitting he was "seeing ghosts."
Sam Darnold is mic'd up and he came to the sidelines and said, "I'm seeing ghosts."
- Dan Roche (@RochieWBZ) October 22, 2019
(Via @ESPN) pic.twitter.com/9MoM6Rkmo5
Jets head coach Adam Gase was disappointed that Darnold's admission was used during the Monday Night Football broadcast.
"It bothered me. It bothered the organization," Gase said Tuesday, according to Andy Vasquez of northjersey.com.
"This gives us pause to really cooperate anymore because I don't really know how we can put our franchise quarterback out there like that," Gase continued.
Jets running back Le'Veon Bell took to Twitter to share his reaction to the situation.
The NFL screwed Sammy over...there's not one player in the NFL who's cool with having every sideline convo broadcasted to millions...there's a reason we've never heard other QB's frustrated on the sideline like that before...that's crazy, @NFL did Sam dirty as hell https://t.co/2XmYXNTNoL
- Le'Veon Bell (@LeVeonBell) October 22, 2019
Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News shed some light on how the "seeing ghosts" clip ended up on the air, and about how the mic'd-up process works overall.
Here's how MNF Mic'd process works: NFL Films signed off on Sam Darnold's "ghosts" comment to be aired. They had a rep on site. My understanding is that people high on NFL Films totem pole are not happy that their rep cleared this for air. (cont)
- Manish Mehta (@MMehtaNYDN) October 22, 2019
ESPN requested Sam Darnold to be Mic'd up. Jets were receptive to that. Welcomed it. NYJ had agreed to have Darnold Mic'd up for the Week 2 primetime game vs Browns, but he got mono.
- Manish Mehta (@MMehtaNYDN) October 22, 2019
Jets did not have a rep sign off on "ghosts" comment to be aired.
Mehta added that ESPN doesn't have control over what gets aired, as the decision is made by an NFL Films representative.
For his part, Gase said the Jets will seriously consider whether they will have players mic'd-up in future games.
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