Garrett Wilson made a dazzling one-handed 26-yard go-ahead touchdown catch early in the fourth quarter as the New York Jets snapped a five-game losing streak by beating the Houston Texans 21-13 on Thursday night.
Aaron Rodgers had three touchdown passes, including another earlier one-handed score by Wilson and a 37-yard throw to recently acquired Davante Adams, and the Jets (3-6) won for the first time in four games under interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich.
With the Jets trailing 10-7 and facing third-and-19 from the Texans 26, Rodgers tossed the ball up toward Wilson in the end zone. The star wide receiver jumped and reached up with his right hand with both legs spread in the air - looking like the Michael Jordan "Jumpman" logo.
The play was initially called an incomplete pass, but a video replay review confirmed that Wilson's shin was down in the end zone and a touchdown was called to give the Jets a 14-10 lead with 12:54 left on the clock.
It sent the MetLife Stadium crowd into a frenzy after the fans had little to cheer for until that point. Wilson's catch was reminiscent of the Giants' Odell Beckham Jr.'s one-handed grab against Dallas in 2014.
It also helped make up for a Jets touchdown that wasn't when rookie Malachi Corley made a mental mistake that negated his first NFL score.
With the Jets at the Texans 19 early in the second quarter, Corley took the toss from Rodgers and zipped down the right sideline. Corley sped into the end zone, but just before he crossed the goal line, he dropped the ball out of his right hand to celebrate.
A video review showed he had not gotten into the end zone before he dropped it. So, Corley was credited with an 18-yard run and a fumble. And because it rolled out of the side of the end zone, it was a touchback and a turnover.
Rodgers finished 22 of 32 for 211 yards. His 37-yard touchdown pass to Adams, who earlier was cleared after being checked for a possible head injury, put the Jets up 21-10 with 2:56 left. It was Adams' first touchdown catch since being acquired from Las Vegas earlier this month.
Ka'imi Fairbairn made a 29-yard field goal with 39 seconds left to make it an eight-point game, but Adams recovered the onside kick and the Jets were able to take a knee and seal the win.
C.J. Stroud was 11 of 30 for 191 yards for the Texans (6-3), who played with injured receivers Stefon Diggs and Nico Collins. It was the first of three consecutive prime-time games for Houston, with a Sunday night home matchup against Detroit Lions on November 10 next and a Monday night meeting at Dallas on November 18.
Fairbairn missed two field goals for Houston. With the Texans trailing 14-10, Fairbairn made it a one-point game when he kicked a 43-yarder - but Eric Watts was called for unnecessary roughness on the attempt, so Houston opted to accept the penalty and keep the ball.
The Jets made a defensive stand and the Texans were forced to try a 27-yard attempt, but Fairbairn doinked his kick off the left upright, keeping it 14-10.
Joe Mixon's three-yard touchdown run capped a 98-yard drive for the Texans, who took a 7-0 lead with 3:21 left in the second quarter.
One play after Stroud was banged up on a sack by Solomon Thomas, Fairbairn was wide right on a 56-yard attempt.
The Jets tied it on their opening possession of the second half when Rodgers completed a 21-yard pass to Wilson, who snagged the ball with one hand and ran into the end zone for the tying touchdown.
Riley Patterson, who signed to the active roster hours before the game to replace the injured Greg Zuerlein, hit the left upright on the extra point, but the ball deflected inside and cleared the crossbar.
Fairbairn made up for his earlier miss by kicking a 54-yarder that put the Texans back up, 10-7 with 4:11 left in the third quarter.
Looking like the Michael Jordan "Jumpman" logo, Wilson snared the pass in the air with both legs spread out and was able to land inside the end zone, prompting huge reaction.
"I told him he might get kicked from Adidas after that one," said a laughing Davante Adams, who's sponsored by Nike.
"That one looked like he's headed over to Jumpman with me. So, we're going to see. I'm going to talk to some people about that one.
"I'm not going to say they're going to replace the logo - Mike might not like me saying that but that was a hard catch."
Wilson himself knew it was a good catch and is honoured it is being compared with Giants' Odell Beckham Jr.'s one-handed grab against Dallas in 2014.
"I was like, That's a good one there. That's a good one and it's got to count,'" Wilson said. "I remember saying to all of them, Y'all are gassing me up too early. It's got to count, y'all. Let's chill!'
"Once it counted, I was like, Yeah, all right. Now y'all can tell me whatever.'
"Man, Odell's, it was different and he got two feet down and the ball was going to land out of bounds.
"And it was Odell, man. Odell against the Cowboys. That was the one.
"For it to even come up in that convo, I'm blessed. I'm honored. But Odell, yeah, that's that boy."
Make sure you tune in to Sky Sports NFL every Sunday at 6pm for the first game of our triple-header of live action. The evening's entertainment also includes NFL Redzone action as hosted by Scott Hanson, as well as Sunday Night Football to round off the night.
Sky Sports will broadcast two exclusive live games every Sunday throughout the regular season in the 6pm and 9pm slots, while also showing every Thursday Night, Sunday Night and Monday Night match-up as well as the Thanksgiving and Christmas Day fixtures.
The Sky Sports NFL channel will meanwhile continue to show the usual NFL Network favourites, including Good Morning Football, Pro Football Talk and Total Access.
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