EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Giants coach Tom Coughlin was in Jacksonville on Sept. 11, 2001. His son Tim, a bond trader, was somewhere in the south tower of the World Trade Center.

Amani Toomer looked out the window of his New Jersey home and watched in disbelief as the towers fell.

In Washington, LaVar Arrington felt a shudder as a jet slammed into the Pentagon.

Five years later, the 9-11 terrorist attacks feels like yesterday to members of the New York Giants. Over the week that followed, there would be a trip to ground zero and firehouses where widows of fallen firefighters cried on their shoulders.

When Coughlin looks at his grandchildren, Andrea and Timmy, he knows they exist because his son found a way down from around the 60th floor after hijackers crashed two planes into the buildings.

"To be honest with you, I'm very aware of the miracles that have taken place in my life," Coughlin said. "And that certainly is one of them."

Across the NFL on Sunday, teams observed moments of silence, rolled out U.S. flags and arranged for jet fighters to fly over stadiums to commemorate the five-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks.

In Nashville, Aaron Neville sang the national anthem as part of the Titans' ceremony, which also featured what was billed as he first operational flyover by four F-22A Raptors, the single-pilot stealth fighter jet.

During pregame festivities before the New Orleans Saints-Browns game in Cleveland, Lee Greenwood sang "God Bless the U.S.A." as a 100-yard long American flag was unfurled and held by members of the Marine Corps. A moment of silence was also meant for victims of Hurricane Katrina.

At halftime in Charlotte, N.C., the Panthers set up a satellite connection for chosen area families to talk with their loved ones stationed in Iraq. Portions of the calls were then played back on the big screens.

In St. Louis, the Rams showed a video montage called "Everyday Heroes" at halftime honoring police and firefighters. Dozens of local law enforcement personnel and paramedics unfurled a giant flag.

But the five-year mark was all the more poignant for the Giants, who returned to New York a little more than 12 hours before the first plane struck on the day of the attacks. The night before, they opened their season in Denver with a loss on Monday night.

Linebacker Brandon Short was a rookie, starting his first game.

"I didn't play very well and I thought it was the end of the world," Short said. "The next day everything was put in perspective, like football. Nothing meant much except making sure that our country was secure and safe and that we could continue to enjoy the freedoms that we had."