Well, that nice little run of the Texans being relevant AFC South contenders is over. Here comes the part where gamblers talk about us in hushed tones. "Gosh, they're so good, if only they could play defense." That sort of thing. The Texans (4-5) will drag their mediocrity to New Jersey to take on the New York Jets (7-2) on another 12 PM CT start time on CBS. Dan Dierdorf and Greg Gumbel will get the call, so look for Mark Sanchez to be lionized by the second quarter by people who don't understand how bad the Texans defense is. Your usual suspects will pick up the radio: Sports Radio 610 AM, 100.3 KILT FM and La Tremenda 1010 AM if you prefer Spanish.
The Jets have actually underperformed defensively this season. Darrelle Revis has struggled to stay healthy and that has a put a big dent in their pass defense. He should be good for this game, however, so downgrade expectations for Andre Johnson if you can. They've been a bit lucky this year, and if the Texans weren't on pace to become the worst NFL defense of all-time, I'd think about saying the Jets were more vulnerable than they were last year. Oh right, also they went into Reliant and smoked the Texans in Week One last year. But they had Kris Jenkins around for that game, and he won't be on the field this Sunday as he's out for the year. Chris Myers will still get beaten, but likely by someone else.
The Expert Picks are as follows (this will be brief): every writer at CBS, Yahoo!, and ESPN who has been asked to make picks so far has picked the Jets except for Clark Judge, who may have found the pick'em procedure confusing and clicked the wrong web button.
The Jets are -6.5 point favorites.
For more on the Texans, check out Battle Red Blog.