(My Sportsbook) - If Jack Del Rio and Maurice Jones-Drew would like a glimpse of what might had occurred had their surprising decision to stay out of the end zone late in Sunday's 24-22 win over the New York Jets backfired, they should catch wind of the storm of criticism pelting Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots this week.

Belichick has been roundly criticized for electing not to punt from the Patriots 28 with his team nursing a six-point lead at around the two-minute mark against Indianapolis, an ill-fated decision that had direct bearing on the team's one-point loss.

But Jones-Drew's decision, which came with prompting from Del Rio, to fall down on the 1-yard line rather than score a touchdown with a little over a minute-and-a-half to play against the Jets could have been lamented even more, had it failed to work.

With access to the results, which say that following a perfect snap by long- snapper Jeremy Cain and good hold by punter Adam Podlesh, kicker Josh Scobee calmly kicked an 18-yard field goal at the final gun to lift the Jags (5-4) to victory, the kneel-down decision looks like a work of genius. The Jaguars didn't want to give the ball back to the Jets and afford them a chance to drive for the game-winning or game-tying score.

Of course, when traditional football logic is applied, the old axiom that says you never take points off the board, no matter the circumstances, would seem to fly in the face of the Jaguars' choice.

Were the odds of making the short field goal really better than the odds of rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez driving the Jets down the field with no timeouts, and questionable receiving talent, against the Jaguars' prevent defense?

Ultimately, it's a question that's unknowable, though what is known is that Jacksonville escaped the Meadowlands with a confidence-building road win.

"Maurice Jones-Drew did the unselfish thing at the end," said Del Rio of his running back, who continued his Pro Bowl caliber-season with 24 carries for 123 yards and a touchdown. "I had talked to him on the sidelines and told him that when he popped free to stop on the one and take the air out of this game and let Josh Scobee win it with essentially an extra point try. I didn't want to give them the ball back. I wanted to take the air out of here and we were able to do that...I thought Maurice was awesome early. He's a tremendous football player."

Also serving as a credit to the cause was quarterback David Garrard, who had struggled on the road during the season's first half but finished 16-of-26 for 221 yards and just one turnover against the Jets. Garrard was in on a pair of Jacksonville touchdowns, capping off an 11-play, 70-yard drive with an 11-yard TD dash in the second quarter, and later in the frame hitting Mike Sims-Walker with a 26-yard strike to stake the Jags to a 21-10 lead.

His head coach though, seemed more impressed by Garrard's lone scoring drive of the second half, which resulted in the Scobee field goal.

"David went and won the game," said Del Rio. "That's what good quarterbacks do. You give them the ball with an opportunity and they make you pay. That's what David was able to do for us today. I'm real happy for him and I'm happy for our football team. To have him take us down there like that and win the game, that's what it's all about."

Jacksonville will have a golden opportunity to continue rolling this week, when the struggling Buffalo Bills (3-6) visit north Florida with a chance to provide the Jags with their sixth win. Though Del Rio's squad has been anything from perfect this season, and probably ranks down the list of most pundits' top playoff prospects, the football gods seem to be smiling on them, if Sunday's endgame is any indication.

"We are a young team and we fight," said Jones-Drew. "The effort was never the issue and that was something big I wanted to harp on the last couple of weeks. We had to correct some things and execute and that's what we did...Guys are just loving playing the game and having a good time.

"We don't care what other people say. Last year we were picked to make it to the Super Bowl but that didn't happen. It's what we want to do and what we want to accomplish this year."

COLTS: Lost in the postmortem of Sunday night's Colts/Patriots tilt, which loudly trumpeted the fact that Bill Belichick blew the game for his team with a highly debatable decision, is the fact that Indianapolis hung around long enough to force the issue.

The Colts had looked dead to rights a couple of times before Belichick's fateful choice, falling behind 24-7 in the second quarter and clinging to the ropes for support when Randy Moss' second touchdown of the night put them in a 31-14 hole with 14:18 to play in the fourth quarter.

At that stage, Indianapolis had neither moved the football consistently on the New England defense, nor done enough to slow a Patriots offense that had scored on five of its first 10 drives.

But a sea change was imminent, long before the 4th-and-2 play heard 'round the world.

Following the Moss touchdown, Peyton Manning engineered a five-play, 79-yard drive covering just 2:04 that culminated in a 29-yard touchdown pass from Manning to Pierre Garcon.

The Indianapolis defense then picked the appropriate time to tighten up, holding New England to a total of three points on its next two drives and not allowing what could have been a game-deflating Manning interception to end the comeback attempt.

Following a Stephen Gostkowski field goal that extended the Pats' lead to 34-21 with 4:17 left, Manning led another quick march, driving the team 79 yards on just six plays toward a Joseph Addai touchdown with 2:27 left.

Against that backdrop, the short game-winning drive that followed the Belichick error was a cakewalk for Manning. Which, when all was said and done, was probably the point in the criticisms against the coach.

"This one was a memorable one, really probably important to us for our younger guys," noted head coach Jim Caldwell. "It's always great when you have a tangible sort of experience that they can refer to, that you can also use as an example. Now they can draw upon that experience on how to conduct yourself during tough times and when things look a little bleak, but never lose faith, just keep plugging, no complaining, no pointing fingers; 'Let's keep trying to get it done.' It was a great effort by our guys."

TEXANS: Clearly, there is little time for the Houston Texans to dip their collective toe back in the water following the team's Week 10 bye. At 5-4, the Texans' margin for error if they wish to keep their playoff hopes intact is slim.

The opponent for Houston in Week 11 will be one that Gary Kubiak's team knows well: the AFC South rival Tennessee Titans.

The Texans already own a win over the Titans this season - a 34-31 thriller in Nashville back in Week 2 - but this Tennessee team has a new quarterback, and seemingly a new energy. Tennessee is 3-0 since quarterback Vince Young entered the starting lineup, making the Texans prospects at their first home-and-home sweep of the Titans since 2004 seem daunting indeed.

Luckily, the notion of coming out flat in such a critical contest would not seem to be much of an issue for Kubiak and company. This week's game comes on Monday night, a primetime setting always sure to stoke the competitive fire, especially for a team with as many young players as the Texans.

"Monday Night Football is very big," said Texans wideout Andre Johnson, who ranks third in the league with 800 receiving yards as Week 11 begins. "Everybody is watching. Who doesn't watch Monday Night Football? This is a real big game with them winning three games in a row and us coming off a loss against Indianapolis. I think this game will be real big for us."

"Oh, sure, everyone wants to play Monday nights," said Houston tackle Eric Winston. "You know everyone's watching. It's going to be a good test for us. It's going to be a case where we've got to go out there and we're going to have to play pretty well, obviously, to beat this team because they're as hot as it gets right now and they're playing pretty well."

While trying to stress the one-game-at-a-time mentality that is part of the NFL code, Kubiak acknowledged the importance of the primetime slot.

"Well, it is another game, I mean it's one of 16, but we obviously know how important it is as we start these last seven," said Kubiak. "Any time you play Monday Night Football in this league, for players, it's special, but we've got a long week ahead of us and we need to stay focused on ourselves here."

TITANS: The Tennessee Titans are back, and appropriately, their rise from the ashes of 0-6 has been fueled a pair of, well, backs.

Titans running back Chris Johnson has inserted himself into the NFL Offensive Player of the Year discussion during a three-game stretch that has seen the second-year-pro pile up 495 rushing yards and six touchdowns.

In Sunday's 41-17 rout of the Bills, Johnson carried 26 times for 132 yards and two touchdowns, also catching nine balls for 100 yards out of the backfield to become the first player in franchise history to hit triple-digits via both the ground and air since Billy Cannon on Dec. 10, 1961.

Alongside Johnson during his explosive run has been quarterback Vince Young, who maintained his efficiency by completing 17-of-25 passes for a season-high 210 yards, a touchdown, an interception, and 29 rushing yards in a winning effort.

As the Titans (3-6) have risen up the AFC South chart and back to a place of NFL relevance, a mutual admiration society has begun to form between the team's two highest-profile players.

Said Young of Johnson, "What C.J. brings to the game, he is a very special player. Once you get the ball in his hands, he is going to make plays. All we have to do as the other 10 guys when we get the ball in his hands is make key blocks down field for him. Just take care of our responsibility and let C.J. be C.J."

Johnson, meanwhile, has embraced the quarterback who is getting the ball into his hands. The second-year-pro out of East Carolina barely played with Young during his rookie year, when Kerry Collins made 15 starts, but the chemistry between the two has been immediate. On Sunday, Young made a key block to spring Johnson for another of his patented long runs.

"I won't say I'm surprised because, Vince, he's a competitor," said Johnson of the block. "Basically, a lot of people say different things about Vince and this and that. But basically, the only thing on Vince's mind is that he wants to win. He doesn't care if he throws for 300 yards and rushes for 100 yards. At the end of the day, he's going to want to look up and have that victory."

Obviously, the two players are feeding off each other, and are well-aware that the team's success hinges on their ability to achieve dual success.

"The defense has got to choose," said Johnson. "Do they want to stop 10 [Young] or do they want to stop 28 [Johnson]. That is what me and Vince say everyday. Whichever one you choose to stop, the other one is going to have a good day."