Joe Benigno’s disgust for what he had watched for 59 minutes from the Jets left him watching one of the franchise’s most improbable wins from the MetLife Stadium parking lot.
Benigno, the former WFAN host and one of Gang Green’s most famous fans, told the story in his weekly spot on the “Evan and Tiki” show Monday about how he took in the Jets’ 13-10 victory over the rival Giants on Sunday with fellow fans after leaving the stadium early.
He chose to exit the building after Kayvon Thibodeaux’s fourth-down sack of Zach Wilson late in the fourth quarter appeared to all but wrap up the game for Big Blue.
“We’re gone. We’re out…we leave the building,” Benigno said. “We were disgusted…’How are we gonna lose to the crummy Giants with [Tommy] DeVito?’”
It did take long for he and other Jets fans to find out their team still had hope when Giants’ coach Brian Daboll’s decision to try a 33-yard field goal instead of going for it on 4th and 1 with 28 seconds remaining backfired as Graham Gano missed.
“We’re walking down the escalator, we get outside the building, and all we hear is that Gano missed the field goal,” Benigno said. “So we run back, and they won’t let us in. Can’t go back in. They got the big screens all over the place in the parking lot, so we are watching the end of the game on the big screens in the parking lot.”
The Jets ended up completing an improbable comeback.
Wilson got them in field goal range and Greg Zuerlein made the game-tying kick with one second on the clock.
His 33-yard field goal in overtime earned the Jets the win and spot in the AFC playoff race at 4-3.
The 70-year-old Benigno, along with the other Jets fans watching along with him outside MetLife, was euphoric.
“It was a party,” Benigno said. “We were doing a dance when Zuerlein made the game-winning field goal. We thought it was no good! He barely gets it inside the left upright!?
The celebration didn’t end there for him.
User @kenscara1posted a video on X of Benigno, dressed in Jets gear, dancing his way through the parking lot while having some fun at the Giants’ expense — potentially referencing the 2011 game where Victor Cruz’s 99-yard touchdown on Christmas Eve beat the Jets and saved the Giants’ season on their way to a Super Bowl title.
“A little Victor Cruz dance,” Benigno said. “Oh! Victor! Doing a little salsa baby.”
