CINCINNATI — Woody Johnson’s eyes were red as he walked out of Paul Brown Stadium last night. The Jets owner had just shed tears in the locker room with his players and coaches, putting a punctuation mark on one of the hardest weeks of the billionaire’s life.
Five days after his daughter Casey was found dead in Los Angeles, Johnson watched the Jets beat the Bengals 24-14 and head coach Rex Ryan presented the owner with the game ball.
“This one was for Woody,” Rex Ryan said.
Players described an emotional scene with both Ryan and Johnson getting choked up and then the players cheered for the owner.
“It was very touching,” kicker Jay Feely said. “Everybody started cheering him. He’s so supportive of us whether we win or lose he’s always standing at the door of locker room shaking your hand, giving you a hug. It was nice for our team to be able to support him like this.”
Johnson attended the game with his mother, wife, sister, nice and two other daughters, Jamie and Daisy. After leaving the locker room he said his family felt it was important for him to be here despite it being such a difficult time. He was asked: “Does this help?”
“No, nothing helps,” he said and then walked away.
The Jets players praised their owner, and said they wanted to get this win for him.
“We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Woody,” safety Jim Leonhard said. “This win goes to him. We’re as happy as we can be after a win and we’re helping Mr. Johnson cope.”
Johnson has been privately grieving this week, but was in the Jets’ thoughts. When they saw him in the locker room, the emotions flowed.
“He was very emotional, of course,” safety Kerry Rhodes said. “I think it hit him when he came back in, how emotional this situation was. Yeah, actually shed a couple tears. But we’re in it for him. He’s the guy that believed in us and paid all of us here. So we believe in him, and he was very emotional.”