Jets' surprising success continues with win over Texans

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) -- With his team down 9-3 to the New York Jets at halftime, Houston Texans coach Gary Kubiak still believed a road victory was within reach.

Then the third quarter came.

Scouts Inc.'s take ...
The matchup between the Texans and the Jets was a battle in the trenches as both teams had a tough time moving the ball on the ground (the Jets had 27 yards while Houston had just 25). But Jets quarterback Chad Pennington (above) had an efficient day, throwing for 286 yards with one touchdown while completing 77 percent of his passes.

The Jets put up 14 points while holding the Texans scoreless, and never looked back while handing the Texans a 26-11 loss.

"We made some big mistakes in the third quarter that were inexcusable," said Kubiak, whose team fell to 3-8 on the year. "We were going the wrong way trying to hand the ball off. Some alignment things we did didn't make sense.

"That's on us as coaches, and it was the difference in the game. We had a good football game, our defense played well. We needed a play in the third quarter to make a difference and they made every play and we made absolutely none."

Houston's defense held the Jets to 27 yards rushing and sacked quarterback Chad Pennington once for a 9-yard loss.

But the Jets countered by sacking David Carr four times and holding to the Texans running game to 25 yards. Still, Carr completed 39 of 54 attempts with one interception for 321 yards.

"They tried to take away the running game and they did a good job at it," Carr said. "We tried to take a couple of shots down the field, but they knew exactly what they wanted to give us."

The Texans also arrived just as Pennington rediscovered some missing chemistry with his receivers.

"We did stop the run, but [Pennington] does a great job of picking you apart if you give him time," Kubiak said. "Without looking at the film, I would think that once again pressure is an issue. When we do pressure people, we play pretty good in the secondary and I'm not sure we did that today."

Pennington had his finest passing day in weeks, throwing for 286 yards and a touchdown.

Pennington also gave the Jets quite a scare. The quarterback had to leave briefly in the third quarter when he was hit by two Texans and left writhing in pain on the Meadowlands turf.

He was grabbed by his lower right leg by Jason Babin, but was able to complete a 4-yard pass to Jerricho Cotchery. As Pennington released the ball, rookie Mario Williams fell on top of him.

With the crowd watching in stunned silence -- a scene that has become all too familiar with Pennington the last few seasons because of shoulder injuries -- the Jets (6-5) stood around him as the trainers examined the quarterback. Good friend and receiver Laveranues Coles also went down on a knee to talk to the quarterback.

After several nervous moments, Pennington got up under his own power as the fans cheered wildly. He let them know he was OK when he pumped his right fist and then signaled the crowd to make more noise. Pennington missed one play -- Patrick Ramsey threw an incomplete pass -- before returning.

And he certainly looked good, especially in the second half, as Pennington finished 24-of-31. He spoke at length during the past few weeks about needing to reconnect with his receivers after throwing for 200 or more yards once since opening the season with two consecutive 300-yard games.

Apparently, everything's OK now. Coles caught nine passes for 111 yards, including a 12-yard touchdown in the third quarter, and Cotchery had seven catches for 110 yards.

Mike Nugent tied a career high with four field goals, including a career-long 54-yarder for the Jets.

Pennington was 5-for-5 for 89 yards on the Jets' first possession of the third quarter. He connected with Chris Baker for 28 yards and Cotchery for 35 to get down to the 12. Pennington then lofted a pass to the left front corner of the end zone, and Coles leaped for the score.

Cedric Houston added a 1-yard touchdown run later in the third quarter to make it 23-3.

Nugent kicked a 40-yarder midway through the fourth quarter for his third career four-field-goal game.

Andre Johnson caught a 3-yard touchdown pass from Carr with 3:51 left to cap a 76-yard drive for the Texans, and Wali Lundy's short reception completed the 2-point conversion. Johnson and Eric Moulds each had 10 catches.