• Statistics | Photos from New Meadowlands Stadium | Texans report card

EAST RUTHERFORD. N.J. – The Texans proved again Sunday why they have the worst pass defense in NFL history.

On a cold, sunny afternoon against the New York Jets at New Meadowlands Stadium, the Texans’ defensive backs spoiled the best defensive performance of the season and ruined a spectacular comeback by the offense.

The Texans trailed 23-7 early in the third quarter but rallied to take a 27-23 lead with 55 seconds remaining. The Jets got the ball for the last time on their 28 with 49 seconds remaining. They were out of timeouts.

Believe it or not, the Texans managed to lose 30-27.

“It was a very disappointing ending,” coach Gary Kubiak said. “It was tough to swallow.”

Quarterback Mark Sanchez, who engineered overtime victories on the road in the Jets’ last two games, began the decisive drive by completing passes of 5 and 18 yards to running back LaDainian Tomlinson.

With the ball at the Texans’ 48 and 24 seconds left, cornerback Jason Allen and free safety Eugene Wilson couldn’t keep receiver Braylon Edwards from making a 42-yard catch down the right side before he ran out of bounds.

Edwards gave them a first down at the 6 with 16 seconds left. If Allen had forced Edwards to make the catch on the inside, he would have stayed in bounds, and the Jets would have been forced to run down the field and spike the ball to stop the clock.

“At the end of the game, you know they’re going to throw the ball,” said defensive end Mario Williams, who had two sacks. “Edwards shouldn’t have been able to run 40 yards down the field.”

On the next play, the Texans blitzed Sanchez, but somehow, he threw a perfect pass to the corner of the end zone to Santonio Holmes, who beat cornerback Glover Quin for the winning touchdown with 10 seconds left.

A tearful ending

“It brought me to tears,” said middle linebacker Kevin Bentley, who recovered a fumble and intercepted a pass to set up a touchdown and field goal.

Holmes, who abused the secondary all day with seven catches for 126 yards and two touchdowns, is the most recent receiver to feast on the Texans’ pass coverage. Sanchez threw for 315 yards and three touchdowns.

“I thought we were going home happy,” said tight end Joel Dreessen, who had four catches for 106 yards, including a 43-yard touchdown reception. “I still can’t believe it. It’s like it didn’t really happen, like we’re supposed to go back out there.

“Don’t put this all on the defense. We had our chances. We had trouble with the long field (bad field position), but we struggled until the fourth quarter.”

Another loss accomplished in unbelievable fashion dropped the Texans’ record to 4-6 with a fourth consecutive defeat. The Jets (8-2) are off to their best start since 1986.

“Obviously, they were just trying to get themselves in position to throw a couple of balls at the end zone in the end,” Kubiak said about possible Hail Marys by the Jets. “But they made the big play on the sideline (Edwards’ reception), which we should not give up.”

This time, the poor pass coverage couldn’t be blamed on the pass rush. The linemen harassed and hit Sanchez from the opening kickoff until the last play. Defensive tackle Damione Lewis had one sack to go with Williams’ pair.

“I thought we had this one in the bag when we went ahead,” fullback Vonta Leach said.

Just about everybody did. More than half the stadium was empty when the Jets got the ball for one last time. Who could have blamed them?

The Jets had to settle for three Nick Folk field goals after starting drives in Texans territory. Sanchez threw touchdown passes of 4 yards to Edwards and 41 to Holmes. They led 23-7 early in the fourth quarter.

Using their up-tempo offense, Kubiak elected to have Neil Rackers kick a 38-yard field goal to make it 23-10 rather than go for it on fourth-and-9. Earlier, at the end of the first half, Kubiak had done a terrible job of clock management, costing the Texans a possible field goal and leaving them with a timeout remaining.

Move pays off

This time, Kubiak’s strategy worked. Brian Cushing forced a fumble that Bentley recovered, and Schaub threw a 43-yard touchdown pass to Dreessen to make it 23-17. When they got the ball back, Arian Foster scored on a 1-yard run, and Rackers’ extra point gave them a 24-23 lead.

When Williams hit Sanchez as he delivered the ball on the Jets’ next series, Bentley intercepted and returned it to the Jets’ 10. Kubiak ran the ball, forcing the Jets to use their last two timeouts. When Rackers connected from 22 yards out to give them the four-point lead, the Texans thought they had ended their losing streak.

“I don’t think anybody’s got any fingernails left if they’re a Jets fan,” Sanchez said.

john.mcclain@chron.com