the pattern of success against the Raiders he had established as a Charger. In the game against Oakland, Tomlinson tied his career-high for longest receiving play with a 74-yard reception. In Week 7, he faced his former team for the only time in a 27–21 victory for the Jets in New York. Missing part of the game due to illness, he gained 51 yards from scrimmage; of beating the Chargers after they'd released him, he commented, "I'd be lying if I said this didn't add some extra satisfaction." In Week 10 against New England, Tomlinson passed Barry Sanders (18,190 yards) for fifth on the all time yards from scrimmage list, though he picked up a medial collateral ligament (MCL) injury during that game and missed the next two contests against Denver and Buffalo. In his second game back after the injury, Tomlinson scored the 162nd and final touchdown of his career, on a 19-yard catch from Sanchez. In Week 14, the Jets defeated the Kansas City Chiefs 37–10 to improve their record to 8–5, but lost their following two games to the Philadelphia Eagles and the New York Giants, and needed to win their regular season finale at Miami to have any chance of making the playoffs. In the game, Tomlinson had his most rushing attempts (11) and yards (56) of the season, adding 4 catches for 23 yards. However, New York lost to Miami by a score of 19–17, ending their season. Tomlinson made a final move up the career rushing yards leaderboard during the game, passing Jerome Bettis (13,662) for fifth place. Tomlinson finished his final season with 75 carries for 280 rushing yards and a single rushing touchdown, all career lows. Greene, now the main running back, had over 1,000 yards, but the Jets rushing attack was ranked only 22nd in the league, while their offense as a whole was 25th. Tomlinson's new pass-catching role yielded 42 catches for 449 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns; he averaged 10.7 yards per reception, a career-high. His teammates again voted him the winner of the Dennis Byrd Award. Retirement Tomlinson's contract with the Jets expired after the 2011 season. In the aftermath of the season-ending loss in Miami, he said that he would need three or four weeks to decide whether to retire or not. On May 11, Tomlinson returned to Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego to speak at