Steelers, Dolphins won’t wear microphones after Sam Darnold “ghosts” controversy

[Steely McBeam]

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If Mason Rudolph and Ryan Fitzpatrick are seeing ghosts tonight, the audience at home won’t hear about it.

Both the Steelers and the Dolphins declined to participate in ESPN’s Monday Night Football “Mic’d Up” segment this week after a controversy last week when Jets quarterback Sam Darnold wore a microphone and was shown saying he was “seeing ghosts” in an ugly loss to the Patriots.

“The ‘Monday Night Mic’d’ segment won’t be part of the Dolphins-Steelers game. We approached both teams but they declined. We are already pursuing options for next week’s game,” ESPN said in a statement to John Ourand of Sports Business Journal.

ESPN still plans to have players “Mic’d Up” in the future, just as long as they can find players who are willing to do it. Jets coach Adam Gase said after last week’s game that he’ll be hesitant to allow the Jets to participate in the future, and the Steelers and Dolphins may be showing that other teams figure there’s nothing to gain from it.