The Arizona Cardinals did not play on Sunday but did get help in the NFL draft. The New York Jets blew out the Houston Texans 30-6.
How did this help?
It helped doubly.
First, it gave the Texans a loss. The Cardinals own the Texans’ first-round picks and entered Week 14 with the 18th pick or later (they would have been in the playoffs if the season ended before this week, meaning that their pick could be even later if they won any playoff games).
With the loss, they are knocked out of the playoff picture for the moment, they move up at least to No. 17.
The Jets entered the week with four wins. With a fifth win on the season, they have two more wins than Arizona does with four games left in the regular season, making it much less likely they end up with a worse record than the Cardinals.
In the win, quarterback Zach Wilson, returning to the starting lineup after he was benched for three weeks, had 301 passing yards and two touchdowns. Receiver Garrett Wilson had nine catches for 108 yards and running back Breece Hall had 126 total yards from scrimmage and a touchdown catch, while the defense held Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud to only 91 passing yards.
The Texans were held to 135 total yards.
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