Until this Sunday afternoon, the only time I had seen the Jaguars play a football game outside of Jacksonville was the road trip I took to Tampa in 2007 to see them beat the Buccaneers. Oh, and if you ever get a chance to do a game at Raymond James Stadium, try the Bananas Foster ... to die for!
Once the 2010 NFL schedule came out, I had one road game pencilled in: November 28 at the New Meadowlands Stadium (now Met Life Stadium) against the New York Giants. It gave me a built-in excuse to escape northeastern Florida and come home for Thanksgiving.And by Thanksgiving, the Jaguars were vying for a postseason spot at 6-4 and a contender for the AFC South crown. The Giants were 6-4 as well and also a playoff contender. Everything was perfect for a homecoming.
It was a long day before Thanksgiving, though. I had come into the Palatka Daily News building to do some work. I needed to be done by 4 p.m. so I had a fighting chance to get on an airplane. First, though, I had to travel from Palatka to Jacksonville to pick up the parking pass as well as press credential. Then I had to turn around after 5:30 p.m. in complete darkness now and head off to I-95 and down to I-4 and onto Orlando International Airport for a trip to Atlantic City International.
Throughout most of the trip, I made the mistake to listen to sports talk radio on Sirius XM. The whoooooole trip from Jax to O-town was about the terrible 8-7 start of the Miami Heat and new free agent signings LeBron James and Chris Bosh, who joined Dwyane Wade as this impenetrable and dynamic force.
Sports talk radio, aka Specialty Diarrhea of the Mouth.
Thankfully, I had enough to change the station to one of the other dozen stations I was listening to.
Hello, Seventies on 7!
I arrived at Orlando International sometime around 8:15 p.m., got shuttled from my car to the airport, and it didn't take more than 5 minutes -- I swear! -- to go through security before I could sit and relax before the flight. It was about 8:45 p.m. The flight was at 9:35 p.m. I was to arrive at around 11:35 p.m.
Boarded the plane and found out I was sitting near the back of the plane next to the father of a former Toms River South athlete who I really got to know in the early to mid 1990s when he worked at 7-Eleven on Route 37 named Bobby Batullo. Very nice man.
The flight was smooth and uneventful actually. Arrived at 11:30 p.m. and got picked up by my sister and her boyfriend not much longer after that and we were on our way back to my childhood home by 12:45 a.m. (there was a stop at Wawa for something to eat).
Little did I know this would be the last Thanksgiving dinner I would have with my parents while they were still alive. I was up there for almost a week. I had gone out to Applebee's at the Ocean County Mall the night before the game on that Saturday. I do not remember if any of my stories I did at the Observer from the 1998 Little League World Series venture of Toms River East American were still up on the wall, but I do remember trying to find them while I was there.
Anyway, the 28th arrived and I was to take my mother's Cadillac to the game. It wasn't until I got to the Garden State Parkway entrance at Exit 88 did I feel comfortable traveling in it. But once I got that car going toward East Rutherford, I was cruising.
Left at 10 a.m. and finally parked at 11:30 (traffic ... oh, the traffic!!). It was my first time ever in this stadium. At the old Giants Stadium, the only time I ever went there was for a Billy Joel-Elton John concert in July 1994. Never had I gone to the old stadium for a sporting event.
Yet, here I was walking toward this new stadium, going through security with press credentials around my neck heading into the stadium and finding my way upstairs to the press box, putting my stuff down next to fellow Jacksonville-based scribes. Found out Times-Union writer Vito Sterino came from Jersey like me. The little things you find out.
This would turn out to be the first of three trips to Met Life Stadium over the next eight years (I'd do a Jags-Jets game in 2017 and another Jags-Giants game in 2018). I ended up grabbing some rye bread and roast beef and turkey and making a sandwich before the game. Yeah ... try that option in Jacksonville!!
As for the game itself, the Jaguars held a 17-6 halftime lead and were looking good toward another victory. Then Eli Manning went to work at quarterback, hitting Brandon Jenkins and Kevin Boss for big completions berfore delivering a 26-yard TD pass to Mario Manningham. Ahmad Bradshaw's 2-point conversion to tie it at 17-all.
Josh Scobee would kick a 42-yard field goal to give the Jaguars the lead again, 20-17, but Manning and the Giants would respond and when Courtney Green could not wrap up Boss, the Giants' tight end was on his way to a 32-yard touchdown and the lead at 24-20 with 3:15 left.
The Jags had one more opportunity, but big David Garrard was sacked three times in the final drive and the final one forced a fumble that Antrel Rolle recovered to seal the Giants' victory.
The day itself was sunny, but cold. And I remember having to take an elevator down to the ground floor and walking through a tunnel way to get to where the Jaguars' locker room was located.
"Got to do it for 60 minutes," said Maurice Jones-Drew, who ran for 113 yards on this day. The loss dropped the Jaguars' record on the road to 2-3, a point emphasized by then-head coach Jack Del Rio.
"You need to put wins together and this was an opportunity today where many things transpired and we had a great opportunity to do just that and didn't get it done."
There were a number of straight-laced but sad-looking faces in the Jaguars' locker room. Little did we know that loss would lead to four setbacks in the final six games and keep the Jaguars from the postseason.
I made it back upstairs and I started writing this story. Now, I was in Jersey -- my old stomping grounds. And I remembered I was at the Meadowlands ... near the swampy areas of Jersey. Suddenly, a line came into my head that New Jersey's most famous modern-day poet wrote and wouldn't you know it ... INSPIRATION!
"Then came the second half. And to paraphrase favorite state on Bruce Springsteen's car in his classic, "Rosalita," the Jaguars' offense became a dud and was stuck in the mud somewhere in the swamps of Jersey."
This was why I get paid the big bucks in intelligence dollars since the real ones don't exist in my profession at all.
It was dark by the time I left to head back home to Toms River. I now pretty much had the next day and a half to myself. I met my friends Yanny, Double-V and Bobby G at an area eatery the next night on Route 37. By Tuesday morning, I was back on a plane and heading back to Orlando, thankful for the time I had there.
My first non-Florida NFL road trip was over, and a part of me wondered what it would be like to do this on a weekly basis. I was indifferent over it.
But I can say it was memorable.
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