FLORHAM PARK — Jets acting owner Christopher Johnson sat down on Wednesday for an interview with reporters who regularly cover the team.

These sit-downs are rare — this was his first since January — and usually sort of a State of the Franchise. A lot of ground was covered in the interview, which lasted more than 20 minutes, and some news was made.

Here are some of the highlights.

‘My heart sank’

Johnson was making his way up to his suite in an elevator Monday night at Ford Field when Darnold threw the pick-6 to open his career. Johnson heard the roar and immediately knew that something had gone wrong.

“I looked through the glass wall of the elevator and saw a replay of the pick and my heart sank,” he said. “Like every Jet fan’s heart sank at that point.”

It was a bad start. But Johnson said that he did not lose confidence in his rookie quarterback.

“He has an amazing ability to put adversity behind him,” Johnson said of Darnold. “When something goes wrong, he quickly pivots to what comes next. And I had great faith in him, even after that pick-6. I thought, ‘OK, he’s been punched in the face. Let’s see how he responds. I think he’s going to do a good job.’

“I did not lose heart entirely. … How can it not [sink]? My heart stopped. But pivot and move on, and that's one of Sam’s strengths. It really is.”

Excitement up

There’s certainly a lot more excitement about the team after they drafted Darnold and won Monday night’s game over the Lions in such convincing fashion. And Johnson said that ticket sales have responded.

"They’re well ahead of where they were last year,” he said. “I’m not going to go into detail."

Johnson said the Jets are “trending toward a sellout,” for Sunday’s home-opener against the Dolphins.

MetLife Stadium was at 94-percent capacity last year for Jets home games, ranking the team 20th in attendance out of the 32 NFL teams.

Paying McCown

The Jets are paying Josh McCown $10 million this season, making him the most expensive backup in the league. But that doesn’t bother Johnson one bit. When asked about paying the 39-year-old veteran so much money to sit, Johnson used Darnold’s pick-6 as an example of McCown’s impact.

“I have no doubt that that helped Sam get his head together, get set for the next series. Josh is very valuable — whether he’s on the field or not. And not just for Sam, but for a lot of other players. They talk about his leadership. I think he’s money well spent.”

On the anthem

Johnson drew the praise of some and the ire of others when the NFL's national anthem policy was revealed earlier this year, and he said he would never punish one of his players for protesting during the anthem.

The policy, which prohibited protests during the anthem, was abandoned before the season started. And Johnson said the league has asked owners not to talk about the subject.

"I obviously feel very strongly about this," Johnson said. "I’m hopeful that the players association and the league will come up with something in the end that respects the players and the fans and the flag. And I’m very hopeful that that will happen.

"But beyond that I can’t really comment on anything related to the anthem, because I don’t want to do anything that would mess up that process. I’m hopeful that it will work out well."

Woody Johnson’s involvement

Christopher Johnson became acting owner 13 months ago when older brother, Woody, the owner since 2000, left the team to be the U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom.

Christopher said that he has regular conversations with Woody about the team — especially during Woody’s vacation over the summer.

“During that period of time he was more focused on football than the rest of the year, so we talked a lot,” Christopher said. “He’s really excited about the team. He’s very happy with the way that I’m doing my job, and of course he’s loving his job. So that’s all good.”

Woody did have enough time to watch Monday night's game and place a Tuesday-morning phone call from London to revel in the victory.

"He called me way too early," Christopher said. "He was thrilled."

Christopher said he wasn’t sure if Woody would attend a game this year. Woody did attend the Jets’ third preseason game against the Giants in August.

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Future role

Christopher Johnson stopped short of saying he’ll stay in his current role of CEO when Woody returns from his ambassadorship. But he said he expects to have a larger role than before he left: Christopher was involved in only the major decisions before last year.

“I’m looking forward to my brother coming back in a few years, and he’s a great leader,” Christopher said. “But, no question, I am hoping to have a larger role at that point than I had prior. And I think he’d welcome that, I know he would, because I think I have a new perspective at this point that would be valuable for the franchise after that point.”

Christopher said that running the Jets has been better than he could have imagined.

“It’s a great gig,” he said. “I said last year, and it’s absolutely true, I’m having the time of my life. This is a great job. And if I was having that much fun with a five-win season, imagine how much fun I’m going to be having if we actually start killing it. So I’m hopeful we do, but we’ll take it one game at a time."

Email: vasqueza@northjersey.com

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