Patrick Mahomes has plenty in common with Brett Favre, in a good way. Sam Darnold has something in common with Favre, in a not-so-good way.
Favre knows a thing or two about “seeing ghosts” on a football field.
“That’s a term that Mike Holmgren would say to me quite often, my first one, two, three years with the Packers,” Favre said Tuesday on SiriusXM NFL Radio. “It’s not a new term. Quite frankly, I’m not surprised. A young player -- the quarterback, especially -- will have a tendency to see ghosts. You know, you hear the term a lot, ‘It’s slowing down for him,’ and that is kind of the opposite of seeing ghosts. You know, you go from one level -- high school to college, college to pros -- and each time, there’s sort of a maturation level. The speed, really. The game itself is not that different. You still lineup with 11. You still throw it, you still run it. You line up in shotgun, under center, and so on and so forth. What’s different is in high school, you may have one or two really good players, either on your side or the other side. College, then you got eight, maybe nine, maybe 11, which would be rare. But when you get to the pros, that pool of really good players becomes bigger, and so you’re facing more exotic defenses or better talent and the speed of the game is fast. And so this is the learning curve for him.”
So Favre thinks it’s just a matter of time before Darnold stops seeing ghosts.
“It’s really nothing other than being a young player, being exposed to a lot of stuff, and really not so much thrown to the wolves -- I don’t think Adam Gase did anything wrong,” Favre said. “You’ve got to go in and play. You’ve got to go with all your guns blazing, and if he makes mistakes, he makes mistakes. The key is that you learn from them, and you’re going to make more. . . . Over time, the thought is that you see less and less, and you become very familiar with your offense, and I think that’s something that’s often overlooked. I mean, this is a new offense to him, and it’s not to Tom Brady and Josh McDaniels.”
The sooner Darnold stops seeing ghosts, the better. While it indeed comes with reps, the fact that other players (like Mahomes) quickly adapted to the NFL game will result in heavier on scrutiny on those who don’t.