For the New York Jets, remembering 9/11 is not simply about looking back. It is about understanding the people and the city behind the team. On the 25th anniversary of the attacks, owner Woody Johnson brought current Jets players to the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, hoping they would grasp the scale of the tragedy and the strength that followed it. The visit also gave Johnson a chance to revisit one of the most difficult decisions in NFL history and the personal memories that still stay with him.
Woody Johnson and the Jets revisit 9/11
Johnson has carried memories of September 11, 2001, for 25 years. He lost close friends in the attacks and later visited Ground Zero with Jets players while first responders worked through the devastation.
The day also changed the NFL. Johnson recalled how former Jets quarterback Vinny Testaverde pushed for games to be cancelled, arguing that football could wait while New York dealt with the catastrophe.
“Vinny really brought it home for the commissioner and me,” Johnson says. “He goes, ‘I’ve lost 25 first responders, firemen and policeman friends today, and I’m not playing on Sunday.’ And we canceled before we even knew that flights would be shut down. It was the right decision.”
Johnson returned to the memorial on Sept. 9, 2026, this time alongside players including Geno Smith, Demario Davis and Harrison Phillips. For younger members of the squad, the visit offered a direct connection to an event they knew mostly through history.
“I think for the young guys that hadn’t seen it before, it was really a wake-up call to the meaning of what New York is, what being a New Yorker is,” he says. “And just how important New York is to the world.”
9/11 Memorial visit leaves lasting impact
The museum brought Johnson back to memories he had not fully confronted before. One particular room, where victims’ names appear alongside recordings from their families, proved especially emotional.
“There’s a room, I’d never been in it before, and it’s just a dark room with benches and it scrolls through names of people who died, and then there’s video of the relatives talking about them, and it really got to me. I didn’t think it would, but yeah, it really got to me.”
For Johnson, the significance extends beyond grief. He remembers seeing ordinary people step forward, donate supplies and support strangers when New York needed help most.
“I think it had a profound impact on the players. You go in that room, but you come out a different person.”
That message of resilience remains central to the Jets’ connection with the city. Johnson has also backed the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, which supports first responders, military families and people who made major sacrifices in service to others.
“If you have the means to give back as an American, you have to do it. You really do.”
For Johnson, that is perhaps the lasting lesson of 9/11: tragedy can leave deep scars, but compassion, courage and unity can shape what comes next.