The New York Jets picked up a huge 21-13 victory over the Houston Texans on Thursday Night Football to kick off the NFL's Week 9 action, but for much of the game, the Jets didn't look interested in winning. A lethargic first half, which saw star quarterback Aaron Rodgers complete just seven of his 14 pass attempts for 32 yards, nearly tanked New York, but they made some big adjustments in the second half to storm past Houston.
Considering how the team had lost their last five contests, there was definitely a sense of urgency for the Jets to get going against the Texans. When looking back at the team's second half rally, Rodgers hilariously credited Houston's legendary former defensive lineman J.J. Watt for giving the team bulletin board material that they used to fire themselves up at halftime.
“Big halftime adjustments. Lot of speeches, lots of yelling, a lot of chest pounding. Guys were passing around the J.J. Watt video where he said we shouldn’t be favored all that. Lot of slander towards J.J….It started with Woody, Woody was holding it up above his head. There was like a Rocky montage. The song from Rocky 3, ‘Survivor’ was going on.” – Aaron Rodgers, The Pat McAfee Show
Aaron Rodgers, Jets will be looking to carry their momentum into Week 10
Related New York Jets NewsArticle continues below
Rodgers is obviously joking about playing this video during halftime, as the team was focused on finding ways to fix their horrific first half performance. And sure enough, whatever they ended up doing worked, as Rodgers and New York found their stride on offense in the second half, as he led three touchdown drives to close out the game and lead his team to victory.
While getting the win was nice, there's still a lot of work for the Jets to do, as they still are in a 3-6 hole halfway through the 2024 campaign. Beating the Texans was an absolute necessity, though, and now that they have done that, they will turn their attention towards their upcoming Week 10 matchup against the Arizona Cardinals, which is also pretty much a must-win game for them.
