Walker Helps Jets Pull Away From Colts, 31-16

When the team with the best record in the NFL is struggling against the worst club in the league, frustration can lead to humiliation. The New York Jets realized that Sunday and did something about it.

“This was a team we should have beaten,” Wesley Walker said after his three touchdown catches and a defense which forced six turnovers carried the Jets to a 31-16 victory over the Indianapolis Colts.

The victory extended the Jets’ winning streak to nine games and gave them a 10-1 record. The Colts are 0-11 and the league’s only winless club.

“When you hang in there together and keep trying, it will work for you,” Walker said. “It definitely was frustration but we kept trying until we finally were able to break through. We didn’t play well throughout the game but we kept working and we got to them.”

Walker had 5 receptions for 110 yards. His 3 touchdown catches gave him 12 for the season, a career-high.

The 10-year veteran hauled in a 19-yard scoring pass from quarterback Ken O’Brien in the first quarter, and caught five-yard touchdown passes in the second and fourth quarters.

The Jets’ defense intercepted four Jack Trudeau passes and recovered two fumbles.

The Jets offense, which had averaged more than 32 points a game in the winning streak, was slowed most of the game by its own mistakes. O’Brien was intercepted twice and Freeman McNeil fumbled twice.

But McNeil, who finished with 104 yards, broke a 40-yard run with less than eight minutes left, leading to Johnny Hector’s 17-yard burst up the middle for the clinching score.

O’Brien, the league’s leading passer, completed 20 for 35 attempts for 237 yards, but his performance was spotty.

Indianapolis scored on a four-yard run by Randy McMillan in the first quarter, the first rushing touchdown the Jets have allowed this season.

On the first play of the fourth quarter, the Colts scored on a 48-yard touchdown pass from Trudeau to Bill Brooks. That brought the Colts to within 17-16.

The Colts other points came on a second-period safety when punter Dave Jennings was tackled in the end zone.

Brooks, the leading rookie receiver in the league, had 9 receptions for 177 yards.

Pat Leahy added a 32-yard field goal to New York’s attack.

Walker also caught a 34-yard pass with two minutes remaining, setting up his third touchdown.

Trudeau set a Colts’ mark by throwing 57 passes, completing 27 for 359 yards.

Injuries continued to plague the Jets, who lost defensive end Mark Gastineau with a sprained left knee one play before halftime.