Mark Sanchez with the last game ball
from the last game at Giants Stadium
January 3, 2010: After 34 seasons, the last football game is played at Giants Stadium, in the Meadowlands Sports Complex, in East Rutherford, Bergen County, New Jersey, 8 miles west of Midtown Manhattan.
Oddly, it wasn't the New York Giants who played it. The way the schedule worked out, it was the New York Jets. They had played there since 1984, after leaving Shea Stadium. The Giants and the football team at Rutgers University had played there since it opened in 1976.
The Jets hosted the Cincinnati Bengals, in front of 79,106 fans, braving a game-time temperature of 20 degrees, and a wind-chill factor of 4 degrees above zero. Both teams came into the game with postseason hopes: The Jets were 8-7, and the Bengals were 10-5, having already clinched a berth by winning the AFC North Division. Nevertheless, the Jets were favored by 10 points.
Those odds proved to be insufficient. So often a joke team, the Jets put on one of the best efforts in team history. Thomas Jones scored a touchdown in the 1st quarter, and another in the 4th. The Jets also got 3 field goals from Jay Feely, and a touchdown run each by Brad Smith and Jerricho Cotchery.
The offensive line protected quarterback Mark Sanchez well enough to keep him from being sacked all game long. The Jets were 11-for-18 on 3rd down conversions, and 1-for-1 on 4th down conversions. They had the ball for 41 minutes and 14 seconds. No, Bill Parcells was not their head coach at this point: It was Rex Ryan. And Rex's defense held the Bengals to 72 total yards, and forced 3 turnovers to the Jets' 0.
Final score: Jets 37, Bengals 0. The way the Playoff schedule worked out, the Jets would not have a home game; and the Giants were 8-8, so they missed the Playoffs; so there would be no Playoff game at the Meadowlands this season.
Also the way the Playoff schedule worked out, the Jets played the Bengals again the next week, in Cincinnati. It would have been just like the Jets to follow up a great regular season victory with a Playoff disaster. Instead, they won, 24-14. Then they went to San Diego and beat the Chargers. In a span of 9 days, the Jets had won as many Playoff games as they did in Joe Namath's entire 12-year tenure with them. But they ended up losing the AFC Championship Game, away to the Indianapolis Colts.
So often, the Jets felt like second-class citizens at Giants Stadium, to the point where they negotiated half-ownership with the Giants of its replacement, eventually named MetLife Stadium. But in their last game at Giants Stadium, they acquitted themselves better than the Giants usually did.
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January 3, 2010 was a Sunday. These other games were played in the NFL that day:
* The New York Giants not only went out missing the Playoffs, they went out ignominiously, losing to the Minnesota Vikings, 44-7 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.
* The Carolina Panthers beat the New Orleans Saints, 23-10 at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte.
* The Atlanta Falcons beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 20-10 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.
* The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Miami Dolphins, 30-24 at Land Shark Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in the Miami suburb of Miami Gardens, Florida.
* The Dallas Cowboys beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 24-0 at Cowboys Stadium (now AT&T Stadium) in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.
* The Houston Texans beat the New England Patriots, 34-27 at Reliant Stadium (now NRG Stadium) in Houston.
* The Buffalo Bills beat the Indianapolis Colts, 30-7 at Ralph Wilson Stadium (now Highmark Stadium) in the Buffalo suburb of Orchard Park, New York.
* The Cleveland Browns beat the Jacksonville Jaguars, 23-17 at Cleveland Browns Stadium (now FirstEnergy Stadium).
* The Chicago Bears beat the Detroit Lions, 37-23 at Ford Field in Detroit.
* The San Francisco 49ers beat the St. Louis Rams, 28-6 at the Edward Jones Dome (now the Dome at America's Center) in St. Louis.
* The Kansas City Chiefs beat the Denver Broncos, 44-24 at Invesco Field (now Empower Stadium) in Denver.
* The Green Bay Packers beat the Arizona Cardinals, 33-7 at University of Phoenix Stadium (now State Farm Stadium) in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, Arizona.
* The San Diego Chargers beat the Washington Redskins, 23-20 at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego.
* The Baltimore Ravens beat the Oakland Raiders, 21-13 at the Oakland Coliseum.
* The Tennessee Titans beat the Seattle Seahawks, 17-13 at Century Link Field (now Lumen Field) in Seattle.
There was no Monday Night Football game that week. The college bowl games had not yet run their course, but there were none scheduled for January 3.
There were 5 games played in the NBA that day:
* The New York Knicks beat the Indiana Pacers, 132-89 at Madison Square Garden.
* The Toronto Raptors beat the San Antonio Spurs, 91-86 at the Air Canada Centre (now the Scotiabank Arena) in Toronto.
* The Charlotte Bobcats beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 91-88 at the Quicken Loans Arena (now the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse) in Cleveland.
* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Denver Nuggets, 108-105 at the Pepsi Center (now the Ball Arena) in Denver.
* And the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Dallas Mavericks, 131-96 at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles.
There were 4 games played in the NHL that day:
* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Montreal Canadiens, 1-0 at the Bell Centre in Montreal.
* The Ottawa Senators beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 7-4 at Scotiabank Place (now the Canadian Tire Centre) in the Ottawa suburb of Kanata, Ontario.
* The Florida Panthers beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 6-2 at the BankAtlantic Center (now the FLA Live Arena) in the Miami suburb of Sunrise, Florida.
* And the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Anaheim Ducks, 5-2 at the United Center in Chicago.
Also, Arsenal beat West Ham United, 2-1 at Upton Park in the East End in London, in the 3rd Round of the FA Cup.