Jets snap five-game losing streak with much-needed win over Texans

Pass the cayenne pepper.

The Jets snapped their five-game losing skid Thursday night with a 21-13 win over the Texans at MetLife Stadium.

Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers said this week he drank water laced with cayenne pepper that he called a “fountain of youth.”

Rodgers didn’t look like his 25-year-old self on Thursday night, but he threw three touchdowns and made enough plays for the Jets to win their first game in more than a month.

The win moves the Jets to 3-6 and keeps the weak pulse of their season alive. The Texans fell to 6-3.

The Jets cashed in on a great catch by Garrett Wilson. On third-and-19 from the 26-yard line, Rodgers floated one into the back of the end zone and Wilson grabbed it with one hand as he left the back of the end zone.

It was initially ruled incomplete on the field, but replay showed that Wilson’s left shin hit the impact before his knee went out of bounds, giving him his second touchdown of the game.

The touchdown gave the Jets the lead for good with a 14-10 lead with 12:54 to play.

It was the Texans and not the Jets this week with the fourth quarter mistakes that cost them the game. Ka’imi Fairbairn missed a 27-yard field goal after making a kick that was wiped out by a penalty earlier in the drive. Fairbairn had two missed field goals in the game.

The Jets are used to being the team with the kicking problems.

The Texans defense couldn’t get a stop late in the game.

The Jets put the game away with an eight-play, 80-yard drive that ended with a 37-yard touchdown pass from Rodgers to Davante Adams that made the lead 21-10.

Adams left the game early short to be checked for a concussion and returned to score his first touchdown as a Jet.

Rodgers was 22 of 32 for 211 yards and the three touchdowns.

The Jets defense had Texans quarterback CJ Stroud on its heels all night.

They sacked Stroud eight times and Houston completed just one touchdown drive.

The Texans scored a late field goal to make it 21-13.

The first half was an absolutely putrid performance from the Jets, with the Halloween crowd chasing them off the field.

The Jets had 69 yards of total offense in the half, only 14 of which were passing.

Rookie wide receiver Malachi Corley had a blunt play that cost the Jets a touchdown. There were deadly drops from Breece Hall and Davante Adams. The defense couldn’t tackle.

It was an ugly, ugly display of football in this forgettable Jets season.

Rodgers was sacked twice on third down by Texans defenseman Denico Autry. After talking about the “fountain of youth” this week, Rodgers looked old again.

As bad as the Jets were, the Texans weren’t much better. They had three punts, a fumble and a missed field goal in the first half.

Their only success came on a 14-play, 98-yard drive that ended with a Joe Mixon touchdown and a 7-0 lead for Houston.

Without Corley’s huge mistake it should have been a 7-7 draw. The rookie, who has barely played this season, appeared to score an 18-yard touchdown on a punt, but replay showed he turned the ball behind him before crossing the goal line. The ball then rolled out of bounds into the end zone, giving the Texans the ball on the 20-yard line and taking the points off the board.

The Jets’ first-half possessions included five punts and the Corley fumble.

The Jets got the ball to start the second half and finally showed life. Rodgers engineered an 11-play, 70-yard drive that ended with a 21-yard touchdown pass to Wilson. Rodgers seemed to find a rhythm on the drive, completing four passes.

New kicker Riley Patterson made the extra point…just barely, as it went in from the upright to tie the game at 7-7.

The 70 yards on the drive were more than the Jets had in the entire first half (69).

The draw didn’t last long. On the next possession, the Texans moved the ball to the Jets’ 24 before losing 12 yards and settling for a 54-yard field goal by Fairbairn with 4:11 left in the third quarter, giving Houston a 10–7 lead.

The Jets mounted another drive that spanned the end of the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth. It looked like they missed a fourth-and-1 play when Rodgers’ pass was incomplete, but Texans cornerback Derek Stingley was called for illegal contact against Mike Williams and the Jets got another set of downs.

Rodgers showed some mobility on a 13-yard run on third down, which was wiped out by a holding penalty on rookie Olu Fashanu, who played guard.

After Wilson’s stunning catch, the Texans came out and hit a 50-yard pass play on their first play, a shot from Stroud to Tank Dell at the Jets’ 24.

It looked like the Jets would limit the damage to a field goal when Michael Clemons sacked Stroud on third down.

Fairbairn came on and hit a 43-yard field goal, but Jets defensive lineman Eric Watts was penalized for hitting the long snapper on the field goal, giving the Texans a first down.

But the Jets defense came up with another stop and this time Fairbairn missed a 27-yard field goal attempt, hitting the left upright.