New York Jets quarterback Sam Darnold has been eviscerated across the sports world after being caught on a live mic telling his teammates and coaches he’s “seeing ghosts” in a shutout loss to the New England Patriots on Thursday night.
Since then, Jets head coach Adam Gase and running back Le’Veon Bell have railed against ESPN for using the mic’d up clip, which had required approval before being aired, and now New York Giants head coach Pat Shurmur is coming to Darnold’s defense as well.
“Well, you might expect my answer when it comes to mics. I’m not fond of them. I think there are things that get said and corrected during the game that should be internal in my opinion,” Shurmur told reporters on Wednesday. “Outside, it’s kind of interesting and nice for broadcasts to see that stuff.”
Ultimately, Shurmur says, it’s hard enough to play quarterback in the NFL without having to worry about every single thing you say on the sideline in between drives.
“It’s hard to play quarterback in this league. He’s a tough, young man. But if you ask me my opinion about mics, I’m not fond of it,” Shurmur added. “Plus, when you have a mic, then some of what you’re communicating at the line of scrimmage now becomes public record. That’s just my opinion of that. What happened in the game, I don’t know.”
Shurmur has a point, but what he, Gase, Bell and Darnold are missing is that ESPN has a product to present and when something interesting is said, so long as it’s not explicit and doesn’t endanger a game plan, it’s their literal job to share it. That’s the entire purpose of being mic’d up.
If players, coaches and even general managers or front office personnel are against the live mic, then perhaps it’s something they should address as the next Collective Bargaining Agreement is being discussed. Until then, it’s on everyone along the sidelines to demonstrate some personal awareness.
