The Jets trail at halftime, 13-3. Thoughts on the second quarter:

• The Jets' starting defense pitched a shutout, holding the Texans scoreless on two-plus possessions, but the second group was, um, blech! There were missed tackles, open receivers and blown coverages. In short, it resembled backups playing in their first pre-season game. The Jets made Texans backup QB Matt Leinart look like the Leinart from his glory days at USC. The Jets allowed a touchdown and two field goals in the quarter.

• Rex Ryan blew a gasket on one play, throwing off his hat and spiking his headset to the ground. He was screaming for a timeout apparently because his defense had too many men on the field. That snapshot illustrated Ryan's competitiveness. This was only a pre-season game, with his backups playing, and yet he made like it was the playoffs.

• Second-year OL Vlad Ducasse continued to struggle. When the second-team line came in, Ducasse switched to right tackle -- and he promptly surrendered another sack, this one to Jesse Nading, who blew past him with an outside rush. At least Ducasse didn't get any of his teammates hurt on this play, as he did in the first quarter with C Rob Turner. With the Turner injury and Ducasse's struggles, the lack of line depth is a bigger issue than before.

• After losing a fumble on a strip sack, rookie QB Greg McElroy rallied a bit, demonstrating some nice poise in the pocket. Unfortunately, his lack of arm strength was apparent on some throws. An apparent interception was overturned by a penalty, a soft throw into a crowd -- a rookie mistake. But at least McElroy (6-for-11, 47 yards), the former Alabama star, wasn't overwhelmed by the bright lights.