Sam Darnold, “Seeing Ghosts,” and the Moment That Defined the Jets

Evan & Tiki

Audacy

Sports

4.2 • 988 Ratings

🗓️ 4 February 2026

⏱️ 22 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Sam Darnold may be writing a new chapter in his career, but one Jets moment still lingers. The guys revisit the infamous “seeing ghosts” game against the Patriots, how it defined Darnold’s New York tenure, and why Adam Gase initially took most of the blame. A deep dive into WFAN archive audio, how one mic’d-up moment became a national punchline, and why Jets fans still can’t shake it, even as Darnold moves on.

Transcript

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0:00.0	It's kind of amazing to have that really sink in, considering where we were and what we were talking about not that long ago with Sam here in New York.
0:08.4	And unfortunately for Sam Donald, the guy I always liked, he has been defined by a moment.
0:14.5	And that was the icy ghost game against the New England Patriots.
0:18.5	Do you remember, because you were doing national radio at the time with BT, do you remember you and Brandon's conversation about, because I'm sure it was your open, because it was a Monday night. I remember talking about it and remember mocking him. You were mocking Sam. You had to. How did BT handle it as a joke? Probably pissed, right? I think he was pissed. More like, this is our guy. This is who we had
0:39.3	as our starting quarterback.
0:41.4	And he's lost out there against a
0:43.1	pressure-filled New England Patriots
0:45.2	defense. And I think it was
0:47.1	when you heard it in real time,
0:50.3	it was kind of shocking.
0:51.8	Like, did he really just say that?
0:53.2	Yeah. Because it's one of those things that you mock people about. Oh, yeah, man, you're just seeing ghosts. It's not real. You just can't process what's happening. And then he actually said it, and it was kind of shocking. And it began it, it's defined him. It has defined a long time. I think that's over now. It started to be over in Minnesota. Now it's definitely over. It's not what you think of when you think of Sam Donald any longer. I think you're partially right. I think his jet tenure, unfortunately, will always be defined by that. 100%. But I think overall, yes, he's writing a brand new script. And he has been asked a lot about it. I give you credit because I remember on the Friday before the NFC championship game,
1:30.5	we were talking about the hypothetical of Sam going to the Super Bowl.
1:33.4	And you said, oh, he's going to be asked about it immediately.
1:35.7	And I denied it.
1:36.6	I said, nah, it's over.
1:37.7	It's a jet thing.
1:38.9	One of the first questions Sam was asked after winning the NFC title game was about IC Ghosts. So we have decided to go
1:47.7	into the WFN archives and play about a minute or so from a midday program back in 2019.
1:57.7	Let's see what it was called. Joe and Evan.
2:03.1	So do you have any guesses on how Joe and I reacted to this?
2:08.5	He must have been, Joe must have been absolutely dumbfounded.
	...

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