‘TNF’ takeaways: Texans have big concerns after ugly loss to Jets 

The New York Jets snapped their five-game losing streak on Thursday night with a mistake-filled win, 21-13, over the Houston Texans.

Here are four takeaways from their win. 

Something is not right with the Houston Texans

The Texans entered Thursday’s game with an impressive 6-2 record, and even after the loss they should still have full control of the AFC South. 

Or at least be feeling comfortable with where they are. 

But when it comes to being a Super Bowl contender they should be extremely concerned about the way they have played because they have not really looked anything at all like a top-tier team. 

Outside of their win against Buffalo — where the Bills coaching staff did its part to give the game away — they have been squeaking out ugly, close wins against second-and third-tier teams, and were unable to beat a 2-6 Jets team on Thursday that entered the game in complete shambles.

The offensive play calling and game-plan from offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik has been uninspired, the offensive line has been a mess and forced quarterback C.J. Stroud to run for his life on most dropbacks and with wide receivers Nico Collins and Stefon Diggs injured they are short on big-time playmakers in the passing game. 

At this point the Texans are living off of last year’s reputation and hype. They are not matching it on the field. 

The Jets still have problems 

The Jets getting a big win against a first-place team is going to result in 10 days of non-stop talk about whether or not they have figured it out and can turn the season around.

It will be noise, and the answer is almost certainly no.

As nice as Thursday’s win might be, and for as good as the defense played in shutting down the Texans offense, this is still a team with major problems. 

Quarterback Aaron Rodgers and the passing game looked awful in the first half (Rodgers was 7-for-14 for 27 yards in the first half), while they made several mistakes that could have lost them the game.

The biggest of those mistakes was rookie wide receiver Malachi Corley prematurely celebrating a touchdown and dropping the ball before the goal line. 

They also had multiple personal foul penalties on special teams that extended drives for the Texans.

The Texans made their own mistakes

This goes back to the initial takeaway that the Texans have problems, but for as many blunders as the Jets had Houston was more than happy to match them step-for-step.

Kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn missed two field goals, including a chip shot in the fourth quarter that loomed large later in the quarter when the Texans fell down by two scores, while Stroud lost a fumble in the red zone on the Texans’ second drive of the game. That is a lot of points left on the field which took away what was a very winnable game. 

Garrett Wilson is a difference maker

While the Jets still have problems, wide receiver Garrett Wilson is not one of them. 

He was the biggest difference maker in Thursday’s win, catching two touchdowns and both of them were highlight reel plays. 

His first one was a great one-handed grab across the middle followed by a run into the end zone.