Kotite Can Loosen His Collar

When the New York Jets beat the Jacksonville Jaguars, 27-10, Sunday, Coach Rich Kotite and his players were entitled to a huge sigh.

“I’m very tired right now,” said Kotite, who lost seven in a row while coaching the Philadelphia Eagles last season, and the first two games this year as Jet coach. “But I’m very excited about the victory. I thought we learned a lesson from our poor second half last week.

“This is the first step in growing and getting better.”

The growing process was helped along against the expansion Jaguars by a slew of newcomers who weren’t around when the Jets dropped their final five games of 1994. And it was guided Sunday by Boomer Esiason, who threw for three touchdowns and 296 yards.

“We did all we could to be as resilient as possible and get over last week’s loss,” Esiason said of New York’s 27-24 overtime defeat to Indianapolis, which overcame a 21-point deficit in the second half. “We caught a break with an expansion team at home. We’re supposed to win this game and we did, convincingly.”

After being blown out in their opener and blowing that big lead last week, the Jets (1-2) found someone they could handle for 60 minutes in the Jaguars (0-3). Much of Jacksonville’s 251 total yards came long after the issue was decided. The Jets had six sacks.

Esiason, who completed 27 of 43 passes for 296 yards and moved into 14th place on the career touchdown pass list with 213, found rookie Wayne Chrebet for a touchdown on the first drive of the game, then connected with rookie Kyle Brady for another score on their opening series of the second half. He also threw a touchdown to Charles Wilson, who was acquired in a trade before the season.

“You’ve got to win the games you are expected to win,” said Chrebet, who had seven receptions. “With an expansion team, you don’t want to be the first to lose to them.”

Hugh Douglas, like Brady a first-round draft pick, had three sacks in the first half, and cornerback Otis Smith picked off his third pass in as many games.

“What I set out to do was put pressure on and make things happen,” Douglas said. “It feels very good. I’ll try to build on what I did, and so will this team.”

Linebacker Bobby Houston recovered two fumbles, while backup tight end Fred Baxter had six receptions for 99 yards, his first catches of the season.