Houston Texans at New York Jets, New Meadowlands Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ
Sunday, November 21, 2010, 1:00 pm EST, TV: CBS
Opening Line: Jets -6.5
Current Line: Jets -7
Opening Total: 44.5
Current Total: 45.5
Money Line: Jets -300 / Texans +250

The New York Jets (7-2) are coming off their second straight overtime win last week while the Houston Texans (4-5) just wish they would have had the opportunity to go to OT after losing for the fourth time in five games.  The teams will meet on Sunday for the first time since New York quarterback Mark Sanchez earned his first career win at Houston in last year’s season opener.

At that point, many experts thought the Texans would be a playoff contender, but it was the Jets (-7) who won that matchup 24-7 and eventually made it within a game of the Super Bowl.  Houston got off to a promising start this year at 3-1 and looked to be finally living up to its potential, although a three-game losing streak has once again derailed the team’s preseason goal of making it to the postseason for the first time in franchise history.

The Texans suffered a heartbreaking loss last Sunday after they had rallied back from a 17-3 deficit at Jacksonville to tie the game.  Instead of going to overtime though, Houston fell victim to arguably the highlight of the year in the NFL, as Jaguars quarterback David Garrard heaved a 50-yard Hail Mary bomb that was knocked down by cornerback Glover Quin and into the hands of wide receiver Mike Thomas for the game-winning score.

The biggest issue for the Texans remains a lack of defense, with Jacksonville gaining 491 yards to bring their season average to nearly 410 yards given up per game.  Only Washington’s defense has been worse, and that took a huge performance by Philadelphia’s offense on Monday night.

Meanwhile, New York returns home for the first time since being blanked 9-0 by Green Bay in Week 8.  The Jets are just 2-2 at home but have shown a lot of moxy in going 5-0 on the road, including three straight wins that have been decided by less than a touchdown.  Sanchez deserves a lot of credit for that achievement, especially in the last couple games that were decided in OT.   He threw the game-winning touchdown in last week’s 26-20 victory at Cleveland with only 16 seconds remaining before it would have ended in a tie.

New York has seen seven of its last eight games go OVER the total since a season-opening 10-9 home loss to Baltimore while three of Houston’s last four have also gone OVER.  However, the last four meetings between the teams have all gone UNDER.   The Texans have failed to cover their last five games compared to the Jets, who are 6-2 against the spread in their last eight.

Now that you have read this sports betting preview between the Jets & Texans, check out the NFL odds on all the games and compare the best lines at multiple sportsbooks.