Bradley’s team still a game back

The last two years, after the Jacksonville Jaguars won their Thursday night game and became spectators on Sunday, they had no incentive to watch. In 2013 they beat Houston to improve to 4-9. Last year they beat Tennessee to improve to 3-12.

But due to their 19-13 win over the Titans earlier this week, coach Gus Bradley’s Jaguars (4-6) exceeded last year’s win total (three) and moved to within a halfgame of 4-5 Indianapolis and Houston in the AFC South.

Unfortunately for the Jaguars, both the Colts and the Texans triumphed on Sunday.

Texans 24, Jets 17: Playing with their third different starting quarterback this season, host Houston knew it would need to add some new wrinkles to its offense in order to beat the New York Jets.

Quarterback T.J. Yates got some help in the passing game from receiver Cecil Shorts, who threw a touchdown pass to lift the Texans past the Jets (5-5).

Yates tossed two TDs to DeAndre Hopkins, who had 118 yards receiving, and Alfred Blue caught the pass from Shorts, who also took some direct snaps.

“To be able to move this ball effectively against this Jets defense, we were going to have to give them something that we hadn’t shown and I thought we did a good job of that,” coach Bill O’Brien said.

The Texans (5-5) have won three games in a row for the first time since 2012. And they did it with Yates, who threw for 229 yards in his first start since Jan. 15, 2012, in the playoffs for Houston as a rookie.

Colts 24, Falcons 21: Adam Vinatieri kicked a 43-yard field goal with 52 seconds remaining as Indianapolis overcame a pair of two-touchdown deficits to prevail behind backup quarterback Matt Hasselbeck. With injured Andrew Luck watching from the sideline, Hasselbeck threw a pair of touchdown passes and overcame a couple of interceptions.

D’Qwell Jackson tied the game with just over 10 minutes remaining on a 6-yard interception return for a touchdown.

The 42-year-old Vinatieri who won it for the Colts (5-5), as he’s done so many times in his brilliant career. In his 300th game, he came through with his 26th game-winning kick in either the final minute of regulation or overtime.

The host Falcons (6-4) lost for the fourth time in five games after a 5-0 start.