HOUSTON — The Jets defeated the Texans to earn their third win of the season, 21-14, in Zach Wilson’s return from a sprained PCL.

Wilson was below average as he knocked off the rust. He won’t use that as an excuse, but he led his team to victory and that’s all that matters. The run game was elite, churning out 157 yards.

The Jets defense held the Texans to 14 points and 202 yards of total offense.

The win moves the Jets to 3-8. Here are some takeaways.

WILSON IN RHYTHM IS NICE, WHEN NOT, YUCK

The biggest challenge for Wilson is playing within rhythm and processing pre- and post-snap.

The rookie signal-caller was 9-for-13 for 90 yards on Sunday when he got the ball out of his hands in less than 2.5 seconds or quicker. When Wilson trusts what he’s seeing and attacks the defense, he’s efficient.

When he’s even slightly indecisive and starts to hold the ball, it falls apart. On passes when he held the ball longer than 2.5 seconds, he went 5-for-11 for 55 yards and an interception.

Coach Robert Saleh attributed that to youth.

“It’s being a rookie,” Saleh said. “That’s just going to be a growing pain in terms of being able to recognize things. Trust your week’s worth of preparation, but as he sees the game, and he’s starting to see coverages and player demeanor and all that stuff, he gets more comfortable and obviously more decisive. So, it’s just gonna be one of those deals that as he gets older and as he gets more reps, he’ll get a lot better.”

Wilson credited some indecisiveness to not trusting himself.

“I just think it’s not trusting what I’m seeing sometimes,” Wilson said. “I think I just have to understand it’s part of the process of what’s going on and I’m gonna keep getting better at it every single week.”

FILLING MICHAEL CARTER’S SHOES

Carter injured his ankle against the Dolphins last week and that was a huge blow to the Jets offense as he was the leader in scrimmage yards with 738. He was also the leading rusher with 430 yards.

His presence wasn’t missed. Ty Johnson, Tevin Coleman and Austin Walter produced 148 yards rushing and Walter scored a touchdown. Against a loaded box, The Jets ran for 105 yards with two touchdowns, according to Next Gen Stats.

That took some of the pressure off Wilson, who had a pedestrian outing.

“It was huge,” Wilson said. “You saw how it opened everything else up and played fast and getting guys to step up. It was awesome that those guys were able to come through. Backs were running their butt off. It’s nice when we can have that balanced football, that helps each other on both sides.

WELCOME BACK, DEFENSIVE LINE

The Jets front caused pressure on 10 of Tyrod Taylor’s 30 dropbacks and sacked him five times. John Franklin-Myers had two sacks, Quinnen Williams had a sack, and Tim Ward registered one also. Linebacker Quincy Williams had one sack also.

Since the seven-sack performance against the Titans, the pass rush was quiet over the past month, but it came alive against the Texans. And the best part was most came with a four-man rush, which is how the Jets prefer to play defense. It also means there was good coverage on the back end.

“I think it starts with the coaches. They put a great plan together and now I think there’s no gray area for those guys,” Franklin-Myers said. “The coaches took it on themselves to make sure these guys are put in great positions and they were. Again, those guys just made plays. They were flying around, knocking people down, knocking the ball out. Even in some of the run game, just flying to the ball, making tackles, [tackles for loss]. I mean, it was great to see that from those guys.”