The New York Jets raised their record to 6-5 Sunday afternoon with a 26-11 throttling of the Houston Texans at the Meadowlands. In their most complete performance to date, the Jets re-established their passing game and continued to play stifling defense while very nearly playing a mistake-free game. On special teams, the Jets also got a leg up as second-year kicker Mike Nugent connected on four field goals including a career-long 54-yard boot.
"The thing I am happiest with is the fact that all three phases contributed to the victory,” said New York head coach Eric Mangini. “I thought Mike did a real nice job kicking the ball - he had the career-long field goal. We had no turnovers on offense and created two on defense, and we had one penalty on the team. All those things working together, I thought it was one of our best collective team efforts."
Quarterback Chad Pennington answered his critics with his right arm, completing 24 of 31 passes for 286 yards. Both Laveranues Coles (9-111-1TD) and Jerricho Cotchery (7-110) were happy beneficiaries as Pennington had an easy time of it picking on an out-classed Texans’ secondary. Both teams accounted for modest rushing numbers, but the Green & White experienced much more success throughout the air.
“It has been very tough because I take a lot of pride in leading this offense and executing it well,” Pennington said. “We haven’t done that the past couple of weeks, but I think we made some progress today. What we have to do is keep the same approach and keep working.”
“I thought he did a nice job," added Mangini of Pennington. "Outside of the throws that he made, he made a lot of good decisions – a lot smart decisions to get us in and out of plays like we talked about last week. I was pleased with his performance today.”
The Jets did receive a scare in the second half when Pennington got the wind knocked out of him and the veteran passer remained on the turf for a few tense moments. But Pennington got up and pumped his fist to the crowd before heading to the sideline. Patrick Ramsey entered for one play before Pennington returned to a wild ovation.
“It is one of the worst feelings in the world when you get the breath knocked out of you,” Pennington said in the victorious locker room. “You feel like you are going to end it all right out on the field, but it was a good feeling. I love Jets fans. They have been great to me over the years and they have taught me how to be tough, take my licks and keep on going.”
Following a competitive first half in which they had built a six-point lead, the Jets further out-distanced themselves from the Texans with a 91-yard scoring drive which culminated on a 12-yard pass from Pennington to Coles. Using the no-huddle, Pennington was magnificent on the possession, connecting on all five of his passes for 89 yards. That score seemed to steal all of the Texans’ starch and the Jets would cruise the rest of the way.
Trailing 16-3, the Texans didn’t respond well to the double-digit deficit. Houston quarterback David Carr, who spent most of the afternoon under pressure and dropping many passes underneath, was picked off by safety Kerry Rhodes. Carr attempted to find Andre Johnson, but Rhodes picked up his third interception of the season.
Four plays following the game’s only turnover, Cedric Houston gave the home team a 23-3 cushion in front of an after-Thanksgiving gathering of 76,596 spectators.
In need of more production in the passing game, the Jets used a familiar combination to grab a first quarter lead. After a bungled Texans’ punt, Pennington threw behind Coles down the right sideline. Corner Dunta Robinson was step-for-step with Coles, but Robinson could not prevent the 36-yard reception because the ball was thrown outside and short. Coles made a terrific adjustment to set the Jets up at the eight-yard line. Four plays later, Nugent nailed a kick from 23 yards.
Early in the second quarter, offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer dialed up another deep ball for Pennington and the results again were favorable. Pennington fired long for Justin McCareins and corner Demarcus Faggins was flagged for pass interference, costing the Texans 32 yards of field position. The infraction set up Nugent from 34 yards, padding the gap to 6-0.
The Texans finally struck on their fourth possession, getting a 47-yard field goal from Kris Brown. Carr completed three of four passes for 45 yards on the 38-yard scoring drive.
But Nugent would have the final say before intermission, blasting a 54-yard boot. The normally stoic Mangini smiled and enjoyed a laugh as if he knew what was to come later.
“They wanted to see what we could do in practice, and then see if we could pull it off in the game,” Nugent said. “Hopefully, we can keep doing that so I can get even more confidence from my teammates and my coaches.”
“He had been kicking the ball very well in practice, and I’m glad Coach gave him a shot to go out there and make it,” said middle linebacker Jonathan Vilma.
Nugent tacked on his fourth field of the day in the fourth before the Texans got a touchdown from Andre Johnson. But it was too little, too late for a Houston club that dropped to 3-8.
“We won the game and we are happy with that,” said veteran guard Pete Kendall. “We can’t get too high after this one just like we didn’t get too low after the last one.”
The Jets defense was stout throughout, limiting the Texans to just 25 yards on the ground and adding four sacks of the beleaguered Carr. And they played smart football, committing just one team penalty to the Texans’ seven infractions.
“We believe in what we need to do and we believe in the system,” Rhodes said of the defense. “Everybody is in the right spot right now. We are not having many busted plays right now. We are playing sound and it has been effective.”
Mangini’s crew will travel next weekend to Lambeau Field. The Green Bay Packers are 4-6 and they will have a short week to prepare for the Jets after Monday night’s game in Seattle against the Seahawks.
Notebook
Veteran corner Hank Poteat, in his fifth season, started opposite Andre Dyson. Poteat, who finished with six tackles, made his first start with the Jets after playing 10 games for Mangini in New England last season… Both safety Kerry Rhodes and linebacker Victor Hobson combined to total 11 tackles... The Jets were credited with three first half sacks and defensive end Shaun Ellis recorded 1.5 sacks. Ellis now has 48 sacks in his career, a total which matches John Elliott for seventh place in franchise history... This was the third straight game and fifth game overall the Jets have held their opponent scoreless in the first quarter.
Final Game Stats
