EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The Houston Texans remain undefeated — but nearly let this one slip away.

Arian Foster ran for 152 yards and a touchdown, and the Texans stayed unbeaten by defeating the New York Jets for the first time in team history, hanging on for a 23-17 victory Monday night.

With a chance to lead the Jets on a winning drive, Mark Sanchez was intercepted by Kareem Jackson on a pass that tipped off the hands of Jeff Cumberland with 1:51 left and the Texans (5-0) joined Atlanta as the league's only teams without a loss.

"The thing that's upsetting, I think, is we helped them," Jets coach Rex Ryan said. "Clearly they are a good football team. They don't need any help."

The Jets (2-3) were underdogs after coming off a 34-0 loss to San Francisco last week.

Backup quarterback Tim Tebow got the crowd fired up at times throughout the game, including running for a first down on a fake punt, but had little impact otherwise.

Houston also overcame a 100-yard kickoff return by Joe McKnight that reduced its lead to 20-14 with 4:38 left in the third quarter.

Matt Schaub was 14 of 28 for 209 yards and a touchdown to Owen Daniels. Schaub won his ninth straight game — the longest active streak in the league, dating to last season.

Daniels finished with four catches for 79 yards for the Texans, who have their second five-game winning streak in team history.

"It's definitely our best start," Daniels said, "and a big part of that is it doesn't matter on this team about stats or individually what is going on. It's great to be a part of something like that."

Houston's enthusiasm was tempered, though, by a left-knee injury to standout linebacker Brian Cushing that coach Gary Kubiak said he was "very concerned" about.

"I don't know what happened," Kubiak said. "They tell me he cut on a play and his foot might have got stuck in the turf."

Sanchez completed 14 of 31 passes for 230 yards.

When Sanchez ran onto the field, fans cheered. When he ran off it, they booed or chanted Tebow's name.

"I think he played better than his numbers indicated," Ryan said of Sanchez.