About two hours before American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center, shortly before United Airlines Flight 175 would crash into the South Tower, Dan Campbell and the rest of the New York Giants landed safely in New York. Their grief was a Week 1 loss to the Broncos.
"Our opening game of that season was at Denver on Monday night," Campbell said this week. "So we got back, shoot, man, it was 6:30 in the morning when we landed in New York. I had just laid my head on the pillow and my wife’s basically telling me what’s going on."
Campbell was 25 years old at the time, in his third season as an NFL tight end. As he prepares for his first game as head coach of the Lions 20 years later, he joined the Stoney & Jansen Show and reflected on a day that's "seared into your brain."
"It was just disbelief," Campbell said. "We thought we were under attack, we thought we were literally under attack. We didn’t know where it was coming from. We had the F-16 jets flying low between the George Washington Bridge and the Lincoln Tunnel, eye-level right down the Hudson riverbank. It was unbelievable, and you don’t know what’s going on."
The first plane struck at 8:46. The second at 9:03. Both flights had left Boston bound for LA. All told, 2,753 lives were lost in New York as part of the deadliest terror attacks in world history. In their apartment overlooking Manhattan on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River, Campbell and his wife scrambled for answers that couldn't be found.
"It was terror at its highest level," said Campbell. "But those days afterward, man, they were as special as it gets. I mean, you talk about neighbor coming together for neighbor and helping one another and getting them through the hard times. That was the best of that city. It was the worst and the best of that city all in one, and really this country."
Two days after the attacks, Campbell and the rest of the Giants visited Ground Zero "to try and help as a team," he said Friday. He said he still remembers the smell, and the first responders who hadn't slept. The NFL postponed all games the following weekend, to this date the last league-wide pause of play. The Giants opened their season at home on the last day of September with a over the Saints.
With New York hurting and healing at the same time, Campbell remembers the city's resolve erasing political divides.
"That’s exactly right," he said. "That was very evident. People that normally don’t have any time for one another, especially (in New York) where you’re nonstop, you’re on the go, time is money. To watch people actually stop and help their neighbor and lend a hand was pretty special. It was really special, as a matter of fact.
"And that’s something else I won’t ever forgot, is just the human spirit, if you will. It was one of those you just don’t forget."
LISTEN on the Audacy App
Sign Up and Follow Audacy Sports
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram