Prior to Sunday’s clash with the Chicago Bears, Jets running back Cedric Houston had been an inactive regular since Week Five. On October 1, Houston was knocked out of the Colts game with a knee injury. While Houston sat, rookie ‘back Leon Washington flourished as the team’s leading rusher and Kevan Barlow has displayed a knack for finding the end zone.
However, a rejuvenated Houston, after a month of impressive work at practice, was given the ball Sunday from head coach Eric Mangini.
"The last three or four weeks, I was thinking I was going to play. I was happy. I had a big smile on my face all day," Houston said. "It felt good to put my jersey on, let alone play and have a good game.”
Houston’s prediction of his playing time was dead-on. Mangini took note of Houston’s quality work ethic.
“Cedric has had some real good weeks of practice and we had all three running backs up because we were committed to running the ball,” Mangini said. “He did a nice job with the action that he saw.”
The former Tennessee Volunteer has only appeared in three of the Jets’ ten games so far this season, but when healthy, Houston has proven to be a valuable asset to the running game. Houston was on pace for a career day that afternoon against the Colts, but a goal-line leg injury sidelined any momentum he had built for himself.
Houston acknowledged that it was important for him to make the most of his time against he Bears.
“I knew when I did get out there, I had to be effective,” Houston said. “There wasn’t a sense of urgency, but I knew once I got in there, I had to make some plays.”
The 6’0”, 220-pound back accounted for 50 of the Jets’ 109 rushing yards, including 36 in the first half alone. Houston’s 11 carries were second to rookie Leon Washington, who ran the ball a team-high 13 times and gained 22 yards.
“You can never do enough,” Houston said. “But it was good to get back out there and share carries with Kevan and Leon just try to get out there and make plays. I think I did a pretty good job.
“It is great to get out there and get some good, quality reps,” Houston added. “It is good to get out there and just get back into the flow of things.”
For an offense ranked 25th in the league, the Jets surprised the Bears and their NFL-best defense by exploding for 156 total yards in the opening half. The Jets were six yards from scoring on their third drive of the afternoon after marching 70 yards downfield. Houston’s number was called on five of the 13 plays, as the former sixth-round selection picked up 31 yards on the 6:31 march – the longest possession of the day for the Green and White.
“For the most part, we did a good job getting a hat-for-hat and gave the runners an opportunity to get through,” Mangini said of the running game in the first two quarters. “I thought Cedric did a really nice job with his opportunity. He had some good, physical runs; there were some positives there.”
