Jets' late TD takes Greene off hook for fumble

By the time Shonn Greene grabbed hold of the ball, it was clear he was in trouble. Miscommunication between Greene and Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez resulted in an awkward handoff, and the young running back made matters worse by trying to break a tackle. The result was a fumble that was recovered by the Texans.

Victory had seemed inevitable for the Jets, who had a 13-point lead with 9:31 left before Greene's carry. But things began to snowball soon after. The Texans scored on the next play, on Matt Schaub's 43-yard touchdown pass to Joel Dreessen, and moved within 23-17.

Had it not been for Sanchez's 6-yard touchdown pass to Santonio Holmes with 10 seconds remaining, which gave the Jets a 30-27 victory, Greene would have faced the bulk of the blame.

"I knew we had what it takes, but I'm still kind of upset with myself," said the running back, whose tendency to fumble came into question last season. "I'm happy we won, but we've got to fix some things."

Greene said he was expecting a toss from the quarterback on second-and-5 from the Texans' 41, but unbeknownst to the running back, Sanchez had changed the play and instead called for a handoff.

"I'm running something different and Mark is running something different," Greene said. "So when I saw that, I went to get the ball and it wasn't a clean exchange, and by that time, guys had gotten to the backfield and kind of got to me."

It was his third fumble of the season, and first since the team's season-opening loss to Baltimore, in which he had two.

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"I can't [worry about it] because it's going to affect how I play when I do go back out there," said Greene, who was benched for LaDainian Tomlinson after the play. "I just try to forget about it. It is hard, but if you worry about it, it's always going to be in your mind."