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 that he drank a mixture of water and cayenne pepper that he called a “fountain of youth.” Rodgers looked like he was in his 40s in the first half, but looked like his younger self in the second half. He went 15 of 18 for 179 yards and three touchdowns in the second half.

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

“There’s kind of a season on the line there in the second half,” Rodgers said. “Mentally it would have been very tough to finish 2-7.”

The highlight of the game was a one-handed catch by Garrett Wilson in the back of the end zone that gave the Jets a 14-10 lead, a lead they did not want to relinquish.

Wilson was originally called out of bounds, but an evaluation revealed that his left shin was in the end zone. It was a catch reminiscent of Odell Beckham Jr.’s one-handed catch. for the Giants ten years ago.

“When I was in Little League, man, I had some catches,” Wilson said. “It felt like I was going back to that time a little bit.”

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 field goal 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 fell to 6-3.

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 gave the Jets a 21–10 lead.

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

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 win was Jeff Ulbrich’s first as interim Jets coach after losing his first three games since taking over for Robert Saleh.

He was given the game ball in the locker room after the game and players said he was emotional.

“I feel like one of my strengths is blocking out the outside noise, but it gets loud,” Ulbrich said. “This team took a lot of photos externally. The way they just stuck together and worked and kept a positive attitude and just were a unit, I’m really proud of them.

The Jets turned the game around in the second half after trailing 7-0 at halftime. The first half was an absolutely putrid performance by the Jets, with the Halloween crowd chasing the Jets 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 boneheaded 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.

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.

It should have been a 7-7 draw if it wasn’t for Corley’s huge mistake.

The rookie, who has barely played this season, appeared to score a 19-yard touchdown on a punt, but replay showed he turned the ball over 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 Garrett 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 took the lead after Wilson’s great catch. On a third-and-19 from the 26-yard line, Rodgers floated one into the back of the end zone and Wilson took it for the 14-10 lead.

On the next drive, the Texans came out and hit a 50-yard pass play on their first play, a shot from Stroud to Tank Dell to the Jets’ 24. But the Jets defense came up with another stop and this time Fairbairn missed a 27-yard field goal attempt, hitting the left upright.

The Jets get a break before heading to Arizona to play the Cardinals next week as they try to climb out of the hole they’ve dug for themselves.