…as to exactly HOW, I can’t tell you.

Here’s all I can come up with. On offense, they have no prayer (even with Tebow). Defensively, this is all I’ve got – Rex Ryan tells one of his pass rushers to absolutely obliterate Matt Schaub on a play-action play, whether Schaub comes off the turn with or without the ball. Sure, it would draw a penalty. Sure, it could leave the chance for a huge play for the Texans on offense. But if they could force a turnover, hurt Schaub, or make SOME kind of impact play early, then you never know what can happen.

Yeah, I’m reaching, I know. Of course the team could come out flat, although that seems unlikely on Monday Night Football. Couple that with an early turnover and the possibility that Houston could struggle to run the ball AND struggle to stop the run, and the Jets could keep it close… for a while.

Keep in mind, in no way do I think any of that is going to happen. The Jets are in far too much turmoil to put together a perfect game against the Texans, who should MAUL them on defense. The Texans may sputter early as they have at times this year, but barring some SERIOUSLY unforeseen problems, turnovers, injuries, and on-field miracles – they should get out of New York late Monday with their fifth win.

Despite some issues getting the run game going AND stopping the run, the Texans have managed to blow teams off the field in 2012. The one exception was the win in Denver, but even that was kind of a fluke after a Ben Tate turnover sparked Denver to a late rally which included a clown touchdown to Joel Dreessen.

The Jets, like the Titans – haven’t really stopped anyone, especially against the run. They are 31st in rushing defense, giving up an eye-popping 173 yards per game. The New Orleans Garbage is the only team worse, giving up – are you ready for this? 187 rushing yards per game!

On offense, the Jets are in the bottom ten in rushing, amassing only about 87 yards per game. Not hard to believe with a rushing attack that features Shonn Greene and Bilal Powell. Of course it goes without saying that they are near the bottom in passing as well.

So you have a team that is number one in overall defense going into week five, going against a team that is near the bottom in offense. Houston’s strengths match up well against New York’s strengths, which are

The question I have at the end of this entry is… how do the Jets have two wins? They blew up for 48 points against that vaunted, scary, amazing Buffalo defense… and managed to squeak out a win over the Dolphins. Other than that, they got their heads kicked in against the Steelers and 49ers by a combined score of 61-10. They should fair no better against the Texans, but it is Monday night, and you just never know.

Texans 27
Jets 13