It was the way they fought. The Cowboys had the Jets down. But could not keep them down.
The Jets’ improbable 27-24 comeback victory over the Cowboys wasn’t pretty. But it represented everything about this city, and about this country, on the 10-year anniversary of 9/11.
Against all odds, willed to the finish line by MetLife Stadium, they rose up and they refused to quit and they refused to lose.
PHOTOS: JETS RALLY TO BEAT COWBOYS, 27-24
“We showed what America’s all about,” Matt Slauson said. “We never stopped fighting. Things may get us down — and it’s perfect that this was the 9/11 game because we encompass what America represents every day. We just keep on fighting.”
On this night when New York’s Team became America’s Team.
“The Cowboys are not America’s Team right now,” Slauson said. “It’s definitely us.”
If it wasn’t Joe McKnight, right hand extended, blocking a punt in the fourth quarter, it was Isaiah Trufant scooping it up and running it in 18 yards to tie the game with five minutes left.
If it wasn’t Jim Leonard tackling Jason Witten at the 3-yard line at the end of a 64-yard reception, it was Mike DeVito forcing a fumble, and Sione Pouha recovering it during the goal-line stand.
If it wasn’t Plaxico Burress catching a touchdown pass and giving the ball to his 4-year-old son, it was Mike Pettine making the call that enabled Darrelle Revis to intercept Tony Romo and return it 20 yards so Nick Folk could boot the game-winning 50-yard field goal with 27 seconds left.
“It might have been the best team effort I think I can ever remember that I’ve been a part of,” Rex Ryan said.
Down 24-10 early in the fourth quarter.
But never out.
“We just kept hanging in there and hanging in there, and believing that we can get it done, and that’s exactly what happened,” Ryan said.
He was wearing his FDNY cap.
“You guys have been around this football team enough to know there’s no quit in this bunch,” Ryan said. “None.”
A roar went up in the final minute of the third quarter when Mark Sanchez finally completed a pass to Burress, an invisible man to that point.
It was 17-10 for the Cowboys and every Jets fan inside MetLife Stadium expected this to be the beginning of a 90-yard TD drive that would tie the game.
But then Sanchez made the kind of mistake he isn’t supposed to make in his third season. He stared down Dustin Keller over the middle and linebacker Sean Lee read the quarterback’s eyes and ran the interception back 37 yards to the 1 as the third quarter ended. Two plays later, Felix Jones made it 24-10.
It looked over.
It wasn’t.
Sanchez found Burress against Bryan McCann for a 26-yard TD pass that made it 24-17 and had Burress taking bows with 11:56 left before making Elijah Burress a happy little boy.
“We kinda emulate what this city’s all about — sticking together, being resilient, persevering through everything that was going on,” Burress said.
But then Sanchez, who fights like hell even on his worst days, made another kind of mistake he isn’t supposed to make in his third season. Sacked by safety Danny McCray, Sanchez coughed the ball up to Lee with just over six minutes left.
It looked over.
It wasn’t.
“You look at what happened in the last 10 years . . . the country, the city, everyone just fought back,” Leonhard said. “That’s what we did today. We kept fighting and kept fighting and somehow clawed out a win.”
You can keep the team that represents New York down. But on the 10-year anniversary of 9/11, you could not keep it down.
“It was special for us to be able to try to honor this city with our effort. . . so many men and women, the tireless hours that they work, sacrificing themselves, the first-responders. . . . we just wanted to make sure that we can try and represent them the right way,” Bart Scott said.
And when it ended, SNY cameras captured an emotionally drained Rex Ryan — his father Buddy in the stands and his twin brother Rob tormenting Sanchez and offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer for long stretches on the opposite sideline — telling his team: “I am so proud of you, men. . . . unbelievable. And I’ll tell you what: Your community is proud of you. We’re New York’s Team. . . . That was one hell of a job. And you know what, whatever team played the hardest, longest, was gonna win that game . . . The New York Jets won that game!”
America’s Team on the 10-year anniversary of 9/11.
steve.serby@nypost.com