Halloween isn't until next week, but the New England Patriots defense put quite a scare into New York Jets quarterback Sam Darnold in Week 7.
The Pats defense confused, rattled and knocked down Darnold throughout Monday night's game at MetLife Stadium. The second-year QB finished with 11 completions on 32 pass attempts for 86 yards with zero touchdowns and four interceptions. He also lost a fumble.
Darnold was mic'd up for ESPN's broadcast, and during the first half, the network played sound of the Jets quarterback on the sideline admitting "I'm seeing ghosts."
Patriots linebacker Kyle Van Noy, who recovered Darnold's fumble in the second quarter, couldn't believe the 22-year-old quarterback actually said he was seeing ghosts.
"Oh, he did? Oh, man," Van Noy said when told of Darnold's comments. "That's the boogeyman. It's real."
Van Noy interrupted the next question to ask "(Darnold) really said that? Oh man. That's crazy for him to say that. That makes it real, you know what I'm saying? That's crazy. I mean, I can't believe he said that ... I'm lost for words for a second. But I think it's just a testament to how well we're playing, to be honest. We played really well tonight; I'm happy about it."
The Patriots linebackers call themselves the "Boogeymen", and they lived up to that nickname Monday night. Darnold finished with a horrendous 3.7 passer rating -- the lowest against the Patriots in a single game since Bill Belichick took over as head coach in 2000.
Darnold made comments earlier in the week about finding a weakness in the Patriots defense. He also noted "they're not unbeatable." Clearly, the Patriots heard these remarks and were determined to make Darnold's life miserable.
New England Patriots
Mission accomplished for Van Noy and the Patriots defense.
Click here for the best and worst from Pats' win over the Jets>>>
Click here to download the new MyTeams App by NBC Sports! Receive comprehensive coverage of your teams and stream the Celtics easily on your device.