Texans beat Jets, remain perfect on the season

Mark Sanchez will be the starting quarterback for the New York Jets, said Rex Ryan after the team’s 24-17 loss to the Houston Texans.

Ryan said there was “no question” the fourth-year quarterback would maintain the starting role, despite a less-than-stellar performance. Sanchez’s 14-for-31, one-touchdown, two-interception performance lowered his completion percentage, which had already been the league worst, to 48.4 percent on the season. The head coach praised his quarterback’s effort in the loss:

Though the loss dropped the Jets to 2-3 overall, the SB Nation blog Gang Green Nation believes there was a lot of good to take away from the showdown, especially the aggressive play calling.

Overall, the New York fan base believes its team played well against one of the (if not the) best team in the NFL. And one the reasons they did was because the team never gave up.

With the Jets mounting their final drive of the game trailing with under two minutes to play, a Sanchez pass deflected off a Jets wide receiver and was also intercepted. And with only four seconds left to play and the New York Jets needing a miracle, Sanchez’s last pass was, of course, tipped and incomplete.

J.J. Watt continued his impressive season, adding another sack to bring his league-leading total to 8.5.

Once he hits the open field it’s tough to catch him. The Texans nearly did but McKnight was able to get the ball across the plane of the end zone.

He was nearly tackled on the goal line but got the ball across the plane of the touchdown.

New York Jets center Nick Mangold was injured early in the third quarter Monday night with the Jets trailing the Houston Texans, 17-7.

With 14:53 remaining in the third quarter, Jets running back Joe McKnight ran up the middle for 1 yard. When the pile cleared, Mangold remained on the ground, face down.

via ESPN.

The Jets were within a play of tying the game. And now they’re down two scores, 17-7. This is a big one.

It looked like Cromartie held onto the ball and made the reception but he forgot a key rule as a receiver -- drag your foot in bounds. Cromartie stepped out, as you can see below:

The Jets are an easy team to follow. Receiver or cornerback, it’s still Sanchez’s fault!

Cushing has been at the forefront of the Texans’ defense so far, collecting five total tackles, three of them solo. That defense has had success in keeping the Jets’ offense on their heels, holding them to 88 yards at the time of Cushing’s injury.

...13-yard touchdown by Foster. That’s nearly 100 on the day.

Five plays, 67 yards. That’s an efficient drive and the touchdown run could be used in the lesson plan for teaching a zone blocking scheme. It’s almost unfair at times how technically sound they are.

The snap went up and...

First down. Another direct snap to Tebow. That’s the second time he’s picked up a first on that play.

With Tebow time waiting, it was a good time to step up.

Look at Cumberland on the play -- he was covered.

7-0, just like that.

The next time the Texans will hand that ball off to Foster and the threat to score is still there with Foster averaging nearly 100 yards and a touchdown per game.

Here are the full list of inactives for both teams:

Tate has averaged 29.2 yards through four games this season. He has 117 yards on 30 attempts with two touchdowns on the year.

Forsett has rushed six times for 35 yards in 2012. The 5’8, 194-pound running back has 1,322 yards in his career, the first three years of which came in Seattle.

The Texans are the league’s top scoring defense, having allowed only 56 points in four games.

Over at ESPN.com, Yahoo.com and CBSsports.com, every single one of the experts picked Houston to beat Gang Green in their own back yard. At CBS, every analyst not only picked the Texans straight up, but also against the spread.