In most cases, there's no better time than the first time. And in Jeff Ulbrich's case, he was most happy to be treated to his first win as an NFL head coach rather than being tricked into accepting anything less.
"A really cool game for this team, man," Ulbrich said following the Jets' gritty, grimy, sometimes ghoulish but ultimately gratifying 21-13 win over the Texans at MetLife Stadium on Halloween night. :After three weeks of a lot of adversity and a lot of setbacks, some self-imposed, for them to have the resiliency to come back and play the way they did against a really good opponent, I was proud of them."
The fact that the comeback also presented Ulbrich with a gameball from his team and represented one of his career coaching treats wasn't downplayed, but Ulbrich said it was
"It goes in the office," Ulbrich said of his leather artifact that eventually will bear inscriptions of the victory on it. "This one is a special one for me, because of what it represents for that team."
The Jets, that team, had been hearing it from many outside sources as they started 2-1 — with their first Thursday night win, the 24-3 home-opener against New England — but then fell into their losing streak. Key players struggled to find continuity and excellence and stop committing penalties and errors and shooting themselves in their proverbial foot.
"I feel one of my strengths is to block out the outside noise," the coach said. "But it gets loud, and this team took a lot of shots externally. The way they just stayed together and worked and kept a positive attitude and just galvanized as a unit. I'm really proud of them."
That pride might have been hard to feel if the Jets played their final 30 minutes the way they did their first 30. Aaron Rodgers had the lowest first-half passing yardage total of his distinguished 20-year career (on at least 10 passes) with 32 yards on 7-of-14 passing as some of his early throws were off-line, some catchable balls were dropped, and penalties and injuries continued to confound the Green & White and their fans.
When third-round rookie WR Malachi Corley had his first big pro moment on a 19-yard end-around touchdown run but let go of the football before he broke the goal line plane, turning a touchdown and a 7-0 Jets lead into a touchback and Houston's ball at its 20, Ulbrich had a typical reaction.
"I was definitely frustrated, to be honest, and angry at the same time," he said of the rookie mistake. What did he tell his first-year player? "First of all, you can't do that. Second of all, you owe us one."
It was looking very likely that the Jets would their new coach, their fans and themselves another lost opportunity as the Texans took a 7-0 lead, a 201-69 yardage advantage and a crushing 20:33-9:27 possession time margin into the locker rooms at halftime.
But the Jets, slow starters as they may sometimes be, were far from giving up on this one. At the half, Ulbrich said, "It was a collective deal. It was players and coaches all that spoke, all acknowledging there was more out there for us, we weren't playing to our ability. And we came out and played Jets football in the second half."
The one thing that was going right in the first half was the defensive pressure on productive second-year QB C.J. Stroud. He did lead a 14-play, 98-yard touchdown march to give the visitors their 7-0 lead late in the second quarter. But Stroud, as he was in last year's Texans-Jets game at MetLife, was under constant pressure. And while he was without his top receivers in the injured Stefon Diggs and Nico Collins, he kept firing.
But he also kept finding the MetLife turf. He was sacked four times in the first half, eight times on the night. DL Quinnen Williams, heating his game up like mulled wine the past few weeks, led the way with his second consecutive 1.5-sack game and 4 QB hits. LB Jamien Sherwood, continuing to play for injured defensive leader C.J. Mosley, also had two sacks. DL Micheal Clemson also had two sacks.. D.J. Reed got his first sack in six seasons on an early corner blitz, Solomon Thomas another sack after leaving briefly with an injury.
And Haason Reddick, in his second game as a Jet after ending his stayaway from the team since the March trade with the Eagles, came up late with his first half-sack.
"That's a good offensive line and that's a really good quarterback," Brick said of Stroud, who threw for 191 yards but on 11-of-30 passing. "He can not only navigate the pocket but he can extend plays, beat you with his arm and legs. The way they hunted him all night long, it was exhausting, it was hard. But they came through in the end. It was really cool to see. Whenever you get that sack production and get him off the sack that often, they're doing their thing."
Then Rodgers, playing behind an O-line that because of injuries to LG John Simpson and backup RG Jake Hanson were playing with tackles Max Mitchell on the left side and first-round rookie Olu Fashanu on the right, came to life with three second-half TD drives, 70, 70 and 80 yards each.
The first was crowned by a brilliant 1½-handed 21-yard grab-and-run by Garrett Wilson. The second was, in the phrase of legendary broadcaster Al Michaels, "a catch for the ages," a one-handed, shin-inbounds stunner that gave the Jets their first lead of the game at 14-10. The third was merely the Jets' longest play of the game, Rodgers dropping a dime on Davante Adams for an "easy" 37-yarder that was the 69th scoring connection of the duos' time together and their first as Jets.
Of Wilson's second score, which on top of it all converted a third-and-19 from the Texans 26, the QB said: "That one was a huge play ... a game-changing play." And about putting that first piece of W candy into Ulbrich's trick-or-treat bag tonight, his QB spoke for all the Jets.
"I got to have a nice moment with him," Rodgers said. "Jeff's been really steady. And it's been a few weeks in the making, but I told him after that Tae touchdown, 'That was for you buddy.' We love him, care about him, appreciate the energy he brings to it. We were glad to get him that first one."
When asked if he meant presenting Brick with his first TD connection with the recently arrived Adams or the victory, Rodgers didn't hesitate. "Both," he said.
