Sam Darnold, the Patriots, and the Curse of MetLife Stadium (A Super Bowl 60 Story)
The 2025 NFL season has seen so many twists and turns. We’ve gone from asking if this was the year for Daniel “Indiana” Jones to win MVP to getting Sam Darnold and the Seattle Seahawks as the favorites in Super Bowl 60 against the New England Patriots.
Either way, it’s the New York football fans who lose again as the Giants and Jets combined to finish 7-27 this season. They were the teams that drafted Darnold (2018 Jets) and Jones (2019 Giants), and neither could make it work while they’ve improved with other franchises years later.
Darnold is now a betting favorite to win Super Bowl MVP with Seattle after replacing Geno Smith, another quarterback drafted by the Jets (2013) who had to wait many years for a breakout season with the Seahawks in 2022.
Maybe MetLife Stadium, which opened in 2010, is just cursed. But what NFL team has the devil magic to curse another team’s stadium? Only one choice makes sense: New England Patriots.
Full disclosure: I wanted to write this in September for closer to Halloween time to take advantage of the seasons Jones and Darnold were having. But since Mark Sanchez is part of the story and he got into a fight and was stabbed in October, I left it on the backburner. Then Jones tore his Achilles in December with the Colts.
But with Darnold going on a Super Bowl run, I think it’s time to bring this back as it is a fun story rooted almost entirely in fact about the way everything seems to have gone poorly for the Giants and Jets shortly after that stadium opened. Then since it was always my intention to say the Patriots are the ones who cursed the stadium, I simply can’t pass this opportunity up given the Super Bowl 60 matchup to tell the story of Darnold, the Patriots, and MetLife Stadium.
Also, was this matchup always in the cards? Look at this post from the official NFL account on Twitter/X from September 4, 2025 with a picture of a representative from all 32 teams headed towards Super Bowl 60. At the front of the line, you can see Darnold and Drake Maye right next to each other. Crazy. Some might say spooky.
You can also scroll down to the final section for some commentary about whether Darnold and Jones are proof that quarterbacks need a longer leash for development in today’s NFL.
Table of Contents
The Tale of How the Patriots Cursed MetLife Stadium
Disclaimer: The truth is stranger than fiction, but some of the following is fabricated for entertainment purposes. Almost all of it is true though. Enjoy.
1. Prologue: New England’s Motivation
When MetLife Stadium opened during the 2010 NFL season, the Giants and Jets were both riding high. The Jets were coming off an appearance in the 2009 AFC Championship Game, and they’d get that far again in 2010 after shocking the Patriots, one month after a 45-3 loss, in the AFC Divisional Round for one of the biggest upsets in playoff history.
At that point, Tom Brady and Bill Belichick had gone six straight seasons without another Super Bowl win. They were denied again in 2011 by Eli Manning (career year) and the Giants, who stunned New England with that throw to Mario Manningham in Indianapolis to win Super Bowl XLVI in February 2012.
That’s a 0-3 playoff record for the Patriots against the Giants and Jets with Eli and Sanchez at quarterback. With Peyton Manning joining Denver to strengthen a power in the AFC West, and the Colts drafting Andrew Luck in the AFC South, New England knew it needed to do something drastic to stay on top, and something had to be done about these rivals that play at MetLife Stadium.
2. Devil’s Night, 2012
During the week of Halloween in 2012, the Patriots had a bye week. They had just scraped by the 3-3 Jets in a 29-26 overtime victory, and the 2012 Giants were having a strong title defense with a 6-2 start. The Patriots had to act quick as they couldn’t afford another playoff loss to these teams.
As rumors have it, on Devil’s Night, the Evil Empire sent their wizards of dark magic (Robert Kraft, Bill Belichick, Tom Brady) to a secluded area in the woods of New Jersey (must have got a good tip from Aaron Hernandez on a secret spot), and armed with their cauldron and ingredients, they cooked up a potion and chanted a spell to curse MetLife Stadium.
From this moment on, MetLife Stadium will become a barren wasteland for quarterback play. A place where star players will succumb to serious, non-contact injuries so that they won’t have to worry about ever seeing the Giants or Jets in the playoffs again.
3. Instant Results and a Happy Thanksgiving
To the Patriots’ delight, their dark magic had worked. They saw almost instant results as the Giants lost their next two games, then finished 9-7 and missed the postseason. But the real proof that their curse was legitimate came on Thanksgiving (November 22, 2012).
The Patriots returned to MetLife Stadium to take on the Jets in a prime-time game on Thanksgiving. While the first matchup went to overtime weeks earlier, this was a 49-19 blowout that was over by halftime after the Patriots scored five touchdowns in the second quarter alone. None were more memorable than the Butt Fumble, a busted play where Mark Sanchez ran in a panicked state right into his offensive lineman’s big behind, losing the ball and watching it get scooped up for an all-time hilarious touchdown.
You could say the Jets and Sanchez never recovered from that point, the Follie of the Decade. The Jets finished 6-10, then Sanchez injured his shoulder in a 2013 preseason game at MetLife Stadium against the Giants of all teams. He never played another down for New York, and the Butt Fumble is his legacy as much as the two AFC Championship Game appearances.
4. Enter Geno Smith
With the 39th pick in the second round of the 2013 NFL Draft, the Jets drafted quarterback Geno Smith, a prolific college passer who some thought had first-round potential in what was a weak draft for the position.
Right away in his rookie year, Smith replaced the injured Sanchez, but while he led five game-winning drives to finish 8-8, he struggled with 21 interceptions and a 39.5% passing success rate. Things didn’t get much better in 2014 for Smith, then in the 2015 preseason, he suffered a season-ending injury after a teammate (IK Enemkpali) punched him in the jaw and fractured it over an argument about a $600 debt.
Smith started just one more game for the Jets before going to the Giants in 2017 where his only claim to fame was starting a loss against the Raiders after Eli Manning, a healthy scratch, had his ironman streak ended for no good reason.
It wasn’t until Geno landed in Seattle when he started to get some opportunities after a rare injury to Russell Wilson in 2021. Smith took over as the starter in 2022, and in his 10th season at age 32, Smith had a Pro Bowl year with 30 touchdowns, he led the NFL with a 69.8% completion rate, and he made the playoffs. The ultra-rare Year 10 Breakout.
Seattle was his escape from the curse of MetLife Stadium. Sound familiar?
5. The Patriots Spook Sam Darnold into Seeing Ghosts at MetLife Stadium
After the Jets distanced themselves from Sanchez and Geno, they basically wasted the next three seasons (2015-17) by starting two quarterbacks, Ryan Fitzptrick and Josh McCown, who were automatic locks for throwing game-ending interceptions and missing the postseason. The playoff drought continued as the Jets made Todd Bowles look like a bad coach as he was 24-40 (.375) in New York in 2015-18.
Sure enough, Bowles left for Tampa Bay where his game plan dominated Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs in Super Bowl 55, and he’s made the playoffs three times as Tampa Bay’s head coach. Looks like Bowles just had to escape the Curse of MetLife Stadium.
But it was the 2018 draft when the Jets used the No. 3 pick on prolific USC passer Sam Darnold. He lasted just three years with the team, finished 13-25 as a starter and showed very few redeemable qualities. It didn’t help when Adam Gase was hired to be his coach in 2019-20.
The low point for Darnold and the Jets came on October 21, 2019 in a Monday Night Football game at MetLife Stadium against the Patriots. Darnold had the worst game of his NFL career, completing 11-of-32 passes for 86 yards and 4 interceptions in a 33-0 loss.
During the game, film caught a befuddled Darnold on the bench where he said the famous words “I’m seeing ghosts” in regards to facing the Patriots’ defense.
Darnold left for Carolina where he had a few good games in 2021-22 but never solidified himself as a long-term starter. It was actually in 2023 when he backed up Brock Purdy in San Francisco, the home of Super Bowl 60, and learned the game better under Kyle Shanahan. Darnold then went to the Vikings in 2024 where he had a breakout year with a 14-3 record and respectable stats, then he went to Seattle in 2025 and essentially did the same thing while playing better in the playoffs to lead the Seahawks to the Super Bowl.
Guess Darnold just had to escape the Curse of MetLife Stadium. But some old ghosts from the Patriots wait for him in Super Bowl 60.
6. The End of Eli and the Long Game of Danny Dimes
As for Eli and the Giants, it was a rough finish. After the curse of 2012, Manning and the Giants made the playoffs just once more in his last eight seasons, a one-and-done year in 2016 where they lost at Green Bay. Do I need to remind you of the boat picture?
Manning and the Giants even lost his last start at MetLife Stadium against the Patriots in 2015, a 27-26 final where it was the Patriots who came through in the clutch against Eli after the Giants’ Landon Collins dropped a game-ending interception Brady should have had on the field goal march.
But even with the Giants drafting a mega talent in wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. in 2014, they never won another playoff game with Eli at quarterback. After a HOF start to his career, Beckham was injured in 2017 and never really was the same player. By the time the Giants drafted Daniel Jones in 2019, Eli’s replacement, Beckham was already off to Cleveland.
While Jones had an interesting rookie year with some impressive moments, he was horrific in prime-time games and bad in the clutch. Just a bad sack or pick waiting to happen. In fact, the most surprising thing about his most famous play (“The Giant Stumble”) is it happened in Philadelphia instead of at MetLife Stadium.
The Giants were also accused of not giving him enough weapons, though they did draft running back Saquon Barkley in 2018. He just rarely had a huge impact until he was on the move to Philadelphia in 2024 when he rushed for over 2,000 yards and immediately won the Super Bowl.
The Curse of MetLife strikes again. Saquon just had to get the heck out of there to have unimaginable success.
But while Jones was able to win one playoff game in Minnesota in 2022 (read: not at home at MetLife Stadium), he was injured in 2023 (tore his ACL in Las Vegas) and benched and released in 2024. He made a stop in Minnesota before joining Indianapolis in 2025, and against all odds, he was playing incredible football for half a year until leg injuries did him in.
7. MetLife Stadium Spares No One
Over the years, MetLife Stadium has developed a reputation for season-ending injuries, especially to players on the Giants suffered in home games. Since 2020, Sterling Shepard, Blake Martinez, Andrew Thomas, Wan’Dale Robinson, Jabrill Peppers, Shane Lemieux, and star wideout Malik Nabers have all suffered season-ending injuries while playing for the Giants at MetLife Stadium.
It’s why players have called it a graveyard as other stars have gone down there, including Nick Bosa for the 49ers in 2020. According to one study, there were 14 torn ACLs or Achilles in MetLife Stadium in 2021-23 alone. The field turf used has often been cited as the cause, though some more recent 2025 studies suggest it’s become one of the safer fields. Results are mixed at best.
All New York football fans know is it’s been hard to watch their teams take the field that spares no one.
- Aaron Rodgers was supposed to have a huge impact on the 2023 Jets after taking over for the putrid Zach Wilson, their Darnold replacement. Instead, Rodgers tore his Achilles on the opening drive of the 2023 season. He’d miss the playoffs in 2024 too but make them with the Steelers in 2025.
- Russell Wilson made the playoffs in 2024 with the Steelers, went to the Giants in 2025, threw for 450 yards in Dallas, then was benched after a brutal game at MetLife a week later against the Chiefs in prime time, giving way to Jaxson Dart.
- Dart was a talented rookie but he’s no stranger to the blue medical tent with his aggressive style, and he lost Malik Nabers to a torn ACL and running back Cam Skattebo to a gruesome leg injury too.
Is anyone safe from the Curse of MetLife Stadium? Can any quarterback play well there? Jets owner Woody Johnson bemoaned during the 2025 season that the team would be fine if the quarterback [Justin Fields] could just complete a pass. Ouch.
Since Devil’s Night 2012, only three NFL teams average under 20 points per game at home: Browns (19.6), Jets (19.9), and Giants (19.9). That’s a true stat. Also, the Jets have not made the playoffs the last 15 years, the longest active drought in American team sports. The Giants have the third-worst NFL record (78-145-1) since the curse of 2012.
Meanwhile, let’s not forget how the Patriots have thrived since the curse. They won Super Bowls in 2014, 2016, and 2018. Drake Maye threw a career-high 5 touchdowns at MetLife Stadium this year against the Jets and nearly won MVP on the strength of that game late in the season.
The Patriots are in the Super Bowl again this season too despite scoring the fewest points (54) in three games to get there as well as giving up 5 sacks every playoff game, making them a strange Super Bowl team that’s taken advantage of the schedule.
The dark magic runs deep with this franchise.
8. Epilogue: Can Sam Darnold Lift the Curse of MetLife Stadium?
It’s been hard times for a long time for the Jets and Giants. Maybe they need to hire the Etsy witch who cursed the 2025 Ravens to help lift the Patriots’ curse on the stadium.
Speaking of the Ravens, that’s tough for coach John Harbaugh to go from an Etsy witch to the Curse of MetLife Stadium as he takes over with the Giants in 2026. With his luck, Dart will be frequently injured, and he’ll have losing seasons and poor offenses.
Maybe the only way to escape the curse is to do what others have and leave these teams behind.
Look for Robert Saleh (ex-Jets coach) and Brian Daboll (ex-Giants coach) together with the Tennessee Titans in 2026 as they try to get young quarterback Cam Ward on the right track. New York made it look like those guys can’t coach, so how much do you want to bet they look competent in 2026?
I hinted at it several times above that there are certain locations (let’s call them sanctuary cities) that players can travel to if they want to escape the Curse of MetLife Stadium and get on with their careers.
- Geno Smith had his breakout year in Seattle and the only good thing he did for the Raiders was beat the Patriots in Week 1 of the 2025 season.
- Sam Darnold got on his feet in San Francisco (2023) before his breakout season in Minnesota and is now doing even better in Seattle.
- Daniel Jones had a cup of coffee in Minnesota, the site of his only playoff win, before playing the best ball of his life in Indianapolis.
- Saquon Barkley left the Giants for Philadelphia to have a career year and win the Super Bowl.
Seattle, Minnesota, Indianapolis, San Francisco, and Philadelphia. What’s the link there?
- The Giants beat the Patriots in Super Bowl 46 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis in February 2012.
- Philadelphia beat the Patriots in Super Bowl 52 at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minnesota in February 2018.
- Seattle is playing the Patriots in Super Bowl 60 at San Francisco’s Levi’s Stadium in February 2026.
- The source of Seattle’s power: The Seahawks won the only Super Bowl played at MetLife Stadium, a 43-8 destruction of the Denver Broncos in February 2014 in Super Bowl 48.
To lift the Patriots’ curse on MetLife Stadium, maybe it takes a quarterback drafted by a New York team to beat them in the Super Bowl. Eli was drafted by the Chargers and that happened before the curse of 2012. Geno showed the way in Week 1 how to beat these Patriots with the Raiders, but his team finished 3-14. Jones was leading the best team in the AFC until he was injured for the Colts.
It’s up to Seattle with Darnold, the hero who must conquer the team that made him see ghosts in Act 1, to end the curse at MetLife Stadium. When we’re forced to watch the Giants and Jets in island games, we’d like to see something good once again. Unless Zach Wilson is someone’s hope in 2028, only Sam can save New York football by beating the Patriots in the Super Bowl.
Just don’t try throwing a pass from the 1-yard line to Jake Bobo in traffic.
Is the NFL’s Quarterback Development Timeline Getting Extended?
Whether you think my curse story is plausible or hogwash, you have to agree it’s more realistic than the Mayan calendar was at signaling the end of the world in December 2012. Remember that one? Also, I’m not the first person to suggest MetLife Stadium is cursed. Remember when the black cat stormed the field during a November 2019 game between the Giants and Cowboys? Maybe the seven years of bad luck will expire in November 2026.
But seriously, it is interesting that we’ve seen three quarterbacks become late bloomers who were all drafted by the New York teams. That’s not even including the Buffalo Bills, who were notoriously bad at finding the right quarterback to replace Jim Kelly, who retired after the 1996 season.
But when Josh Allen had his breakout season in 2020, his third year, that felt like an extension of the usual timeline for a franchise quarterback to prove his worth. It’s usually one or two seasons of starting games where you can tell if your quarterback has “it” or not. That’s not to say they’ll peak that soon or they’re a finished product, but you generally have a good idea after two years if you have the right player.
The historic 2024 draft class seems to be sticking to that old timeline too with Jayden Daniels, Caleb Williams, Bo Nix, and Drake Maye all enjoying success in their first or second season.
But some of those ex-New York quarterbacks that have bloomed after Allen are stunning to see. Geno Smith’s breakout was Year 10 in Seattle (2022), though he spent a lot of that time as a backup to quarterbacks who never got hurt. The 2022 season was really his third opportunity as a full-time starter.
Sam Darnold’s 2024 season was his Year 7, so that’s definitely an outlier more akin to something in older NFL history like Jim Plunkett, Joe Thiesman, or Rich Gannon needing a longer period to break out. Then after we questioned how real it was in Minnesota, he came back with Seattle and had another 14-3 season and is in the Super Bowl after two efficient playoff games. Maybe he’s just really good now and living up to that draft status since he’s far away from the Jets.
Then Daniel Jones didn’t get to complete his 2025 breakout season in Year 7 because of a fractured fibula and torn Achilles with the Colts. But for half a year, he had that offense as the best in the NFL and the Colts were in position for the top seed. He looked like a different quarterback.
The key is all of those players had to leave their original team, and they technically had a stop in another organization before the one they had their breakthrough with. This can also be said about Baker Mayfield catching on with the Buccaneers in 2023 after quick stops with the Panthers and Rams. Though, I would argue his rookie season was actually pretty respectable, and his 2020 COVID season was very good and already a breakout year. But he got better later too as a former No. 1 overall pick.
This gives mixed hope for quarterbacks who are struggling to grow right now like C.J. Stroud (Texans), Bryce Young (Panthers), and Tua Tagovailoa (Dolphins). On the one hand, those quarterbacks’ best days can be ahead of them, but the chances of it happening with their original team are not good unless they make a huge hire at coach or offensive coordinator.
In the cases of Stroud and Young, there’s a looming financial decision from their teams as they enter Year 4 in 2026. The Dolphins already paid Tua the big bucks, and they already have regret, I’m sure. They may even end up eating some of that money the way the Broncos did with Russell Wilson only to reach an AFC Championship Game two years later with Bo Nix.
But we are watching a league in flux at the quarterback position. The “Unc Bowl” between Aaron Rodgers and Joe Flacco (the first time, at least) got a lot of attention because it was two veterans in their 40s slinging it against defenses they’ve seen may times before. That’s missing in a lot of these other NFL games because of how young the position has skewed, and that’s another reason why someone like Matthew Stafford probably just won his first MVP at age 37 as one of the few veterans left in a good system with some high-quality receivers.
We know the NFL is going to keep drafting quarterbacks high even if some may not exactly deserve the capital spent. Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza (Indiana) is a likely No. 1 pick in the 2026 draft (Raiders?), and I’m not sure how many drafts where he would be the top pick, but the 2026 class isn’t overwhelming after Arch Manning declared he’s returning to Texas for another year.
With the dead money the Broncos ate on Wilson and the way we might see that play out soon with the Dolphins (Tagovailoa) and Cardinals (Kyler Murray on a short leash, no pun intended), it’s a league that is going to have to rethink resetting the market every time a young, decent quarterback is ready for a new contract.
Trust me, you don’t have to give C.J. Stroud $65 million per year if you’re Houston. Not when the team probably could have won that playoff game in New England if Davis Mills started it.
But this 2026 coaching cycle has shown that sharp offensive minds are willing to take coordinator jobs like Mike McDaniel going to the Chargers to coach Justin Herbert. That’s a demotion from being Miami’s coach but a much nicer job than dealing with Tua, and if it goes well, it sets up McDaniel nicely for that second head coach job down the line. They may be more willing to wait for the right head coaching opportunity to open up, and being a valued coordinator who can mold the next young quarterbacks (like Cam Ward and Jaxson Dart) is an important job.
Less money spent on mediocre quarterbacks while giving them more time to peak might be the best way forward for everyone. Let the huge contracts go to the quarterbacks like Mahomes, Allen, and Lamar who have actually done great things in this league year after year.
But it will be interesting to see how long until we see the next Geno/Darnold/Jones reclamation project. Could that be Mac Jones if he goes somewhere with a McVay or Shanahan assistant as the coach? Could someone find a way to maximize Justin Fields, who looked great in his first game with the Jets and pretty awful the rest of the season? Not sure Trey Lance ever had the juice to be worth the high draft pick in 2021. I’d sooner trust someone to make Anthony Richardson (Colts) work elsewhere.
I threw out the name Zach Wilson as a joke above, but the 2021 first-round pick by the Jets is only 26 years old. Maybe a team like Pittsburgh with Mike McCarthy in town tries to develop him in 2026 or 2027 when he’s more mature.
Just keep him away from MetLife Stadium.
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