My Five Biggest New York Jets’ Disappointments: 2010 AFC Championship Game

September 16, 2012; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback

(7) greets New York Jets quarterback

(6) at mid-field after their game at Heinz Field. The Pittsburgh Steelers won 27-10. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

All right Jets’ fans, let’s continue down memory lane. Over the last few days, we have been counting down my five biggest disappointments since I became a Jets fan in 1985. So far we have covered:

Week 17 of the 1997 Season against the Lions

The 1994 Fake Spike Game

the 2009 AFC Championship Game

And now, my number two biggest disappointment as a Jets fan:

2010 AFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: JETS VS STEELERS

This was the year that we thought it was going to happen, didn’t we? Coming off of the 2009 surprise season of 9-7, the Jets, armed with Santonio Holmes added to the offense, went 11-5, their best record since their 12-4 performance in 1998.

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However, the Jets, like in 2009, had a three game road trip to get to the Super Bowl. They just couldn’t remove the Patriots from their perch atop the AFC East, and it made things that much tougher.

Yes, they beat the Colts on a late Nick Folk field goal. They handled the Patriots in their building to setup the title game against the Steelers, in Pittsburgh.

The game did not start out well for the New York Jets. Punctuated by a sack fumble returned for a score, the Jets went into the half down 24-3.

The second half was a different story. An early third quarter touchdown from Sanchez to Santonio Holmes closed the gap to 24-10. A safety and a Jerricho Cotchery touchdown brought the Jets to within five, but they ran out of time and Pittsburgh won the game by a score of 24-19.

There are a couple of reasons that this game ranks at number two, and higher than the 2009 game. First of all, I honestly felt that the sack-fumble was actually an incomplete pass. I know what the call was, and that nobody in the telecast saw it my way either. Maybe I am prejudiced, but that is what I thought.

Secondly, to come that close and lose is just intolerable. Five points away from going to the Super Bowl? Seriously. That day, the Jets were playing so well in the second half that I believed that if the Jets had one more drive, just one more, that they would have won. Pittsburgh could not stop the Jets’ offense that half, as the Jets were scoring whenever they chose.

I believed that they should have won, not like the previous summer.