Garrett Wilson made a catch on Halloween night 2024 that instantly entered the all-time great conversation. The New York Jets receiver made a one-handed grab that helped his team snap a brutal five-game losing streak with a 21-13 victory over the Houston Texans at MetLife Stadium. This complete breakdown covers everything from Aaron Rodgers’ three-touchdown turnaround to C.J. Stroud’s nightmare behind a collapsing offensive line that gave up eight sacks.
Table of Contents
Quarterback Stats: Two Completely Different Nights
The 40-year-old veteran and the second-year phenom put on entirely different shows October 31, 2024.
| Quarterback | Team | Completions | Attempts | Yards | Touchdowns | Interceptions | Sacks | Passer Rating | QBR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aaron Rodgers | NYJ | 22 | 32 | 211 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 118.1 | 80.1 |
| C.J. Stroud | HOU | 11 | 30 | 191 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 59.2 | 21.5 |
Rodgers was genuinely terrible in the first half. Just 7 of 14 for 32 yards. That’s not a misprint. Thirty-two yards. It matched his career low for passing yards in any half with at least 10 attempts. Then he flipped a switch at intermission and went 15 of 18 for 179 yards with all three touchdowns. Complete transformation.
Stroud? He never had a chance. The Jets’ edge rushers and defensive tackles turned his pocket into a collapsing tent on nearly every snap. According to NFL.com, he faced pressure on 46.7% of his dropbacks. Eight sacks. Career high. His 36.7% completion rate was easily his worst performance as a pro, and his 42.9% bad throw rate showed how rattled he got. Rodgers? Only 12.5%.
“I played about as bad as I could in the first half,” Rodgers said postgame, “and knew it had to get better from there.”
The efficiency gap was enormous. Rodgers averaged 6.6 yards per attempt with an adjusted yards per attempt of 8.6 when you factor in those three scores. Stroud barely managed 6.4 yards per attempt. The Jets’ front four dominated without needing to blitz. Stroud felt pressure on nearly half his dropbacks.
Running Back Production: Mixon Carries Houston Alone
At least one Texan showed up ready to play.
| Player | Team | Carries | Yards | Average | Long | Touchdowns |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joe Mixon | HOU | 24 | 106 | 4.4 | 29 | 1 |
| Breece Hall | NYJ | 15 | 74 | 4.9 | 16 | 0 |
| C.J. Stroud | HOU | 8 | 59 | 7.4 | 25 | 0 |
| J.J. Taylor | HOU | 3 | 23 | 7.7 | 9 | 0 |
| Braelon Allen | NYJ | 4 | 9 | 2.3 | 5 | 0 |
Mixon ground out 106 yards on 24 carries while his quarterback got destroyed behind him. He capped Houston’s only touchdown drive with a 3-yard plunge late in the second quarter and gained 31 yards over expected when facing light defensive fronts with six or fewer defenders. The Texans racked up 187 rushing yards total, but holding penalties killed them. Mixon had runs of 10 and 17 yards erased by flags. Death by yellow laundry.
Hall gave the Jets solid production with 74 yards on 15 carries. His ability to move the chains in the second half kept Houston’s defense exhausted and opened lanes for Rodgers in the passing game. Sometimes the rushing stats don’t jump off the page, but they set up everything else.
Wide Receiver Performance: Wilson’s Historic Moment
The receiving numbers were strong across the board, but one catch towers above everything else.
| Player | Team | Receptions | Targets | Yards | Average | Long | Touchdowns |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tank Dell | HOU | 6 | 9 | 126 | 21.0 | 50 | 0 |
| Davante Adams | NYJ | 7 | 11 | 91 | 13.0 | 37 | 1 |
| Garrett Wilson | NYJ | 9 | 10 | 90 | 10.0 | 26 | 2 |
| Robert Woods | HOU | 2 | 3 | 44 | 22.0 | 32 | 0 |
| Dalton Schultz | HOU | 3 | 6 | 21 | 7.0 | 8 | 0 |
Third and 19 from the Houston 26. Jets trailing 10-7. Season slipping away. Rodgers threw up a prayer to the back corner of the end zone. Wilson went up with a defender draped all over him, extended his right arm fully, and snatched the ball with one hand. Here’s the impossible part: his shin touched the turf for maybe a tenth of a second before his knee landed out of bounds.
Officials initially waved it incomplete. Wrong. Replay showed that shin grazed inbounds first. Touchdown. The catch belongs among the greatest in NFL history. Better than Beckham’s? Absolutely.
“Oh, my goodness,” interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich said. “I was talking to the ref when they were reviewing it. I was like, ‘Just for the sake of posterity, you have to say that’s in just so it goes down in history.'”
The degree of difficulty was absurd. Track the ball over your shoulder while covered. Secure it with one hand. Get your shin down inbounds before anything else touches out of bounds. ESPN’s game recap compared it to Odell Beckham Jr.’s legendary three-finger grab against Dallas in 2014. Fair comparison.
Dell recorded his first 100-yard game since Week 11 of 2023, hauling in six catches for 126 yards. His 50-yard reception down the left sideline in the fourth quarter kept Houston’s hopes alive. But without injured stars Nico Collins and Stefon Diggs, the Texans couldn’t field enough weapons to keep pace.
Adams put the final nail in Houston’s coffin with a 37-yard touchdown on third and 3 late in the fourth quarter. First score as a Jet after coming over from Las Vegas. Perfect ball from Rodgers, Adams running free down the right sideline. Game over.
Jets’ Pass Rush Absolutely Demolishes Houston
New York’s front seven turned this into a horror show for the Texans’ offensive line.
Sack Totals
| Player | Team | Sacks | Solo Tackles | Total Tackles | QB Hits | TFL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jamien Sherwood | NYJ | 2.0 | 7 | 7 | 1 | 2 |
| Micheal Clemons | NYJ | 2.0 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| Denico Autry | HOU | 2.0 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| Quinnen Williams | NYJ | 1.5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 2 |
| D.J. Reed | NYJ | 1.0 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 1 |
| Solomon Thomas | NYJ | 1.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Eight sacks. That matched the Jets’ highest total since 2013, and they generated 33 total pressures while barely blitzing. Sherwood and Clemons each recorded two takedowns. Clemons also forced a strip sack fumble in the first quarter that Will McDonald IV recovered, killing a Houston drive inside the red zone.
Williams continued his dominant season with 1.5 sacks and seven total pressures. The big man in the middle was unblockable. Haason Reddick, playing only his second game after ending his contract holdout, recorded eight pressures on 32 pass rushes. That ranked second among all Jets pass rushers in a single game this season.
New York’s edge pressure didn’t require complex schemes. Williams bull-rushed straight up the middle while Reddick and Clemons attacked from the edges. Houston’s guards couldn’t win one-on-one matchups.
Tackle Leaders
| Player | Team | Total | Solo | Assists | Passes Defended |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jalen Pitre | HOU | 10 | 7 | 3 | 1 |
| Jalen Mills | NYJ | 10 | 4 | 6 | 2 |
| Neville Hewitt | HOU | 8 | 1 | 7 | 0 |
| Quincy Williams | NYJ | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 |
| Jamien Sherwood | NYJ | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 |
| Kamari Lassiter | HOU | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 |
Pitre led all defenders with 10 tackles but couldn’t stop Rodgers from carving up Houston’s secondary after halftime. Mills matched that total for New York while helping keep the Texans out of the end zone for most of the night.
Special Teams: When Taking Points Off the Board Backfires
Sometimes the football gods have a sense of humor. Sometimes they’re just cruel.
| Category | Texans | Jets |
|---|---|---|
| Field Goals Made | 2 of 4 | 0 of 0 |
| Extra Points | 1 of 1 | 3 of 3 |
| Punts | 3 for 154 yards | 5 for 274 yards |
| Punt Average | 51.3 | 54.8 |
| Kick Returns | 4 for 106 yards | 0 |
Houston’s kicking game collapsed in the worst way possible. Ka’imi Fairbairn connected from 54 yards in the third quarter to give the Texans a 10-7 lead. In the fourth quarter, with New York leading 14-10, he nailed a 43-yarder to cut it to one.
Except Jets defensive lineman Eric Watts got flagged for unnecessary roughness. Houston coach DeMeco Ryans had a choice: take the points and kick off down one, or decline the penalty, keep the ball, and try from 27 yards instead of 43.
Ryans declined the three points.
Fairbairn’s 27-yard attempt hit the left upright and caromed out. No good. The Jets kept their four-point lead, scored a touchdown on their next drive, and put the game away. Brutal.
Morstead boomed a 75-yard punt in the second quarter, the fifth-longest in Jets franchise history. Riley Patterson, signed to the active roster hours before kickoff, made all three extra points including one that bounced off the upright and through. Sometimes lucky beats good.
Overall Team Stats: Houston Dominates Everything Except the Score
| Category | Texans | Jets |
|---|---|---|
| First Downs | 21 | 17 |
| Total Plays | 75 | 55 |
| Total Yards | 322 | 293 |
| Yards Per Play | 4.3 | 5.3 |
| Passing Yards | 135 | 193 |
| Rushing Yards | 187 | 100 |
| Penalties | 7 for 60 | 9 for 83 |
| Third Down Efficiency | 6 of 17 | 5 of 12 |
| Fourth Down Efficiency | 2 of 2 | 1 of 1 |
| Time of Possession | 33:42 | 26:18 |
| Red Zone Efficiency | 1 of 4 | 2 of 3 |
Houston held the ball for over seven extra minutes and ran 20 more plays. Didn’t matter. Pro Football Reference’s box score shows the Texans reached the red zone four times and managed only one touchdown. That’s how you lose games you should win.
The Jets scored touchdowns on all three second-half possessions.
Injuries Force Makeshift Solutions
Both teams had to patch things together on the fly.
The Jets lost left guard John Simpson to a groin injury in the second quarter. His replacement, Jake Hanson, lasted one quarter before exiting with a hamstring injury. That forced rookie first-round pick Olu Fashanu into action at guard despite never practicing the position. Max Mitchell also slid inside to guard. Somehow this patchwork line held up in the second half.
“Coach [Keith] Carter just told me, ‘Hey, if the opportunity comes, you’re going go in at guard,'” Fashanu said. “It helps that I have such a great center in [Joe Tippmann] and such a great tackle that has a ton of experience like Morgan [Moses] does.”
Houston’s offensive line? They had no excuses and should be embarrassed. They allowed eight sacks despite the Jets only blitzing on 38% of plays. Six different Texans linemen gave up multiple pressures.
“I’m not sure what’s happening up front,” Ryans said. “Obviously you give up eight sacks, and every dropback looks like we’re in scramble mode, so it’s just not good enough.”
The Jets’ official game recap noted that Adams was evaluated for a concussion but cleared protocol and returned to catch the clinching touchdown. Houston played without Collins and Diggs, their top two receivers. Left guard Kenyon Green was ruled out at halftime with a shoulder injury, making a bad situation worse.
How It All Went Down: Corley’s Mistake and the Second-Half Surge
The Jets trailed 7-0 at halftime despite holding Houston in check for most of the first two quarters. New York had managed just 69 total yards before intermission. Disgruntled fans chanted “Sell the team!” at owner Woody Johnson. Things were bleak.
Then came the adjustment. The Jets opened the second half with an 11-play, 70-yard drive. Wilson’s first touchdown, that leaping one-handed snag on a 21-yard pass, tied the score at 7-7. Patterson’s extra point hit the left upright but deflected through. Lucky break number one.
Fairbairn’s 54-yarder restored Houston’s lead at 10-7 with 4:11 left in the third quarter. The Jets answered with another 70-yard scoring drive, this one taking 12 plays and burning 6:17 off the clock. Wilson’s spectacular fourth-quarter catch put New York ahead 14-10 with 12:54 remaining.
After Fairbairn’s crushing miss from 27 yards, the Jets drove 80 yards in eight plays. Adams’ 37-yard scoring catch made it 21-10 with 2:56 to play. Game essentially over.
But we need to talk about Malachi Corley’s brain freeze. Early in the second quarter, the rookie receiver took a jet sweep and had a clear path to the end zone from 19 yards out. First NFL touchdown in his hands. He celebrated by dropping the ball before crossing the goal line. The ball rolled through the end zone for a touchback, giving Houston possession instead of New York a 7-0 lead.
“First of all, you can’t do that,” Ulbrich told Corley on the sideline. “Second of all, you owe us one.”
That play officially went down as an 18-yard gain and a fumble. Costly mistake that could’ve buried the Jets.
What This Meant for Both Teams
This Thursday Night Football matchup in Week 9 carried vastly different stakes. The Jets desperately needed a win at 2-6. Five straight losses had them drowning. Houston entered at 6-2, comfortably leading the AFC South.
The victory moved New York to 3-6, keeping playoff hopes on life support. The loss dropped Houston to 6-3 but maintained their division lead. Both teams’ 2024 seasons played out very differently than this October night suggested.
“It was kind of season on the line there in the second half,” Rodgers said. “Obviously, we wouldn’t have been mathematically eliminated, but mentally, to go to 2-7 would have been real, real tough.”
Stroud didn’t sugarcoat it. “To come out here on a prime time game and get embarrassed like that is never fun. I believe we have to be better in a lot of areas and that starts with me.”
The Texans had a quick turnaround ahead, hosting the 6-1 Detroit Lions on Sunday Night Football in Week 10. The Jets enjoyed a mini bye before heading to Arizona. Houston’s pass protection problems persisted throughout their season. In their three losses at that point, the Texans averaged just 14 points per game.
Final Thoughts: Stats Don’t Always Match the Scoreboard
Wilson’s catch will be replayed forever. That’s the lasting image from this Thursday night thriller at MetLife Stadium. But the complete breakdown reveals something football fans know but often forget: you can control the ball, rack up more yards, and run more plays than your opponent, and still lose by eight points.
Houston held every statistical advantage except the ones that mattered. More first downs. More total plays. More rushing yards. More time of possession. The Texans reached the red zone four times and managed just one touchdown. That’s the difference between 6-3 and 6-2.
The Jets scored on drives of 70, 70, and 80 yards in the second half. All touchdowns. That’s execution when the pressure’s highest. Rodgers elevated his game after a brutal first half. Wilson made history. The defensive front seven put on a masterclass in quarterback pressure.
Sometimes the scoreboard tells you more than the spreadsheet. For more game analysis and NFL coverage, check out Newzire.
