The Christmas Eve massacre that haunts every Jets fan

Week 16 of the 2011 season. Jets versus Giants on Christmas Eve, and this wasn’t just about New York bragging rights. Both teams needed this win to stay alive for the playoffs, and we completely choked when it mattered most. We started perfectly, marching right down the field for a Mark Sanchez touchdown pass to Josh Baker. Then came the play that still makes me want to punch a wall. Eli Manning throws a third down pass to Victor Cruz with the Giants backed up on their own one yard line. Antonio Cromartie and Kyle Wilson both had chances to tackle Cruz and instead let him slip through their hands for a 99-yard touchdown that gave the Giants the lead for good. The most frustrating part was watching Brian Schottenheimer call over 60 pass attempts for Mark Sanchez when our running game was working perfectly. He knew the Giants had a terrible pass defense and was determined to exploit it, but he should have known by then that Sanchez wasn’t the guy who could do it. This loss launched a mediocre Giants team on a Super Bowl run while we went to Miami the next week and got embarrassed to end our season. We were 8-5 with three winnable games left and a favorable schedule, coming off back-to-back AFC Championship appearances. There was no excuse for missing the playoffs that year, and this Christmas Eve disaster was the moment it all fell apart. #NFLPain #NewYorkJets #NFL