Giants won’t let Daniel Jones get haunted like Sam Darnold

The Giants don’t want to see Daniel Jones haunted like Sam Darnold.

Ahead of his team’s first of two “Monday Night Football” games this season, coach Pat Shurmur said he would turn down a request to wear a microphone feeding into the ESPN broadcast during the game, and he would like his players to follow suit to avoid any Darnold-like situations.

A Giants official said ESPN had not made the request for Shurmur or players as of Thursday afternoon.

“In the past my answer has been they will have mic’d certain players,” Shurmur said after a Halloween practice, “but in this case I’m going to say no.”

The Dolphins and Steelers both turned down mic’d up requests last week, on the heels of the embarrassment caused to Darnold. The Jets quarterback was overheard saying he was “seeing ghosts” as the Patriots brought blitzes and confused him into a five-turnover game with a 3.6 quarterback rating in a 33-0 loss.

Darnold has been living with the perception he played scared ever since, including torment from the Jaguars mascot and fans.

“I think it brought light to a problem that could occur,” Shurmur said.

Jones, who will be making his seventh career start against the Dallas Cowboys, said he never has worn a microphone in a game, including at Duke. He isn’t about to start.

“I feel like I’d rather be thinking about the game and thinking about what I need to do,” Jones said. “Communicating with my teammates normally.”

From one 22-year-old to another playing in the same shadow of New York City, Jones sympathizes with Darnold.

“I thought it was a tough situation there for him to be in,” Jones said. “In the heat of the game, I’d rather not be mic’d up in that situation. Tough for him and [I] feel for him.”

Is that incident the reason Jones is against a microphone?

“I don’t think before that I’d want to be mic’d up either,” Jones said.

The irony is the technology is ideal for someone like Jones, who supposedly shows a more fiery side of himself on game days than he does to fans watching Internet videos or reporters asking questions. Jones dropped a curse word in the huddle in his first start, sparking the Giants to an 18-point comeback against the Buccaneers.

“I’d prefer they don’t (wear it),” Shurmur said. “I’m already on record: I’m not a mic fan. Not Mike the name, either.”

NFL Films has an on-site representative listening in to the mic’d up players. The representative either gives the OK for ESPN to air a comment or decides to keep it private.

ESPN sometimes airs a comment without anyone from their network listening in, putting the trust in the NFL Films. There is a general understanding that in exchange for special access nothing embarrassing will be aired.

“First off, I believe a lot of the communication that happens game day and in the heat of the moment should be a little bit sacred,” Shurmur said. “That’s why I don’t like it.”

For more on the Giants, listen to the latest episode of the “Blue Rush” podcast:

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