November 22, 2012: The Butt Fumble

November 22, 2012: The New York Jets have had many embarrassing moments in their history. Most of them have unfolded before a local audience. Butt... this one happened in front of a national audience, on a national holiday.

In 2009 and 2010, under head coach Rex Ryan and quarterback Mark Sanchez, the Jets reached the AFC Championship Game, including beating their arch-rivals, the cheating New England Patriots, in the 2010-11 Playoffs. But in 2011, they faltered, finishing 8-8. And in 2012, they got off to a 4-6 start, including a loss to the Patriots in Foxboro.

Jets vs. Patriots had become a New York Tri-State Area vs. New England rivalry to, well, rival those of Yankees vs. Red Sox, Knicks vs. Celtics and Rangers vs. Bruins. The fans of each team hated each other, and the players didn't much like each other, either. And now, they were going to play at MetLife Stadium, at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, Bergen County, New Jersey in front of a nationwide audience on Thanksgiving Night.

At the end of the 1st quarter, it was 0-0. Jet fans were thinking they had a chance. But that chance evaporated in the 2nd quarter. Shonn Greene fumbled, and the Patriots recovered. Tom Brady threw an 83-yard touchdown pass to Shane Vereen.

Then came the ignominious moment. Sanchez took the ball, tried to run the ball up the middle, and ended up running up the middle of guard Brandon Moore, crashing into his rear end, and fumbling the ball. Steve Gregory picked it up, and ran it 32 yards for a touchdown. It was 14-0 Patriots, and, with social media already a factor, it quickly became known as "The Butt Fumble."

Steve Gregory (28), celebrating his Thanksgiving hors d'oeuvre

with Tom Brady (12) and Vince Wilfork (75)

People not familiar with the Jets could have presumed that things couldn't get any worse. People who were familiar with the Jets knew that it can always get worse. Joe McKnight took the opening kickoff, was hit by Devin McCourty, and fumbled. Julian Edelman picked it up, and returned it for a touchdown.

It was 21-0, and, as the great New York sportscaster Warner Wolf could have said, "Turn your sets off right there." The final score was Patriots 49, Jets 19.

The Jets finished the season 6-10. Once known as "The Sanchise," Sanchez remained the Jets' starting quarterback for the rest of the 2012 season, but missed the entire 2013 season with a shoulder injury. He remained in the NFL through the 2018 season, with 4 other teams, playing 17 more games, making 11 starts. Since 2019, the former USC All-American has been part of ESPN's college football coverage.

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November 22, 2012 was a Thursday, and a Thanksgiving. The teams that usually host NFL games on Thanksgiving did so. The Detroit Lions lost to the Houston Texans, 34-31 in overtime at Ford Field. Shayne Graham kicked the winning field goal.

At least the Lions didn't lose to their arch-rivals. The Dallas Cowboys did, falling to the Washington Redskins, 38-31 at Cowboys Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. The stadium is now named AT&T Stadium.

Unusually, there were no college football games played that day. There were high school games, including my alma mater, East Brunswick in Middlesex County, New Jersey, losing to arch-rival Old Bridge, 34-0 at Vince Lombardi Field in Old Bridge.

The NHL team owners had locked the players out, so there were no games scheduled for the night. The NHL and the NBA usually don't play on Thanksgiving, anyway, and the NBA didn't.