New York Jets: Five losses worse than Thursday night
2010 AFC Championship Game
Not only was this one a tough loss, but it was also the beginning of the end of the Rex Ryan era which made it even tougher.
After the epic win over the New England Patriots, the Jets were off to Pittsburgh to face the Steelers in their second straight AFC Championship game.
It didn’t start out very well. The Steelers jumped to a 24-3 lead by halftime, punctuated by a sack of Mark Sanchez by Ike Taylor, recovered by William Gay and taken to the house for a touchdown.
The second half was a different story. The Jets scored early on a 45 yard touchdown pass from Sanchez to Santonio Holmes.
In the fourth, a Mike Devito sack of Ben Roethlisberger in the end zone made the score 24-12. A few minutes later, a four yard touchdown pass to Jerricho Cotchery closed the gap to five, 24-19.
The Jets would have had one more chance if they could stop the Steelers on the ensuing drive. The Steelers took over with 3:06 remaining, and coming out of the two-minute warning, they were faced with a third and six from the Jets 40.
Big Ben rolled to his right, and with two Jets chasing him connected with Antonio Brown to convert the first down and end the football game.
If the Jets could have gotten the ball just one more time they had all the momentum. It was a tough pill to swallow.