(My Sportsbook) - The New York Jets continue to confound, torment, and tease their tortured fan base, but heading into Sunday's battle with the Houston Texans at the Meadowlands, they remain a vital part of the AFC Wild Card hunt.

It has been difficult to know what to make of Eric Mangini's Jekyll-and-Hyde unit. Are the real Jets the ones that took down the mighty Patriots for their third road win of the year just two weeks ago? Or are the real Jets the ones that have been shut out twice already this season (the first time that has occurred for the franchise since 1989), including last Sunday's 10-0 home loss to the Bears, and ended the month of October by sleepwalking through a loss to woeful Cleveland?

Jets fans are hoping that the real team stands up soon, and that it can reveal itself to be a consistent winner over a concluding six-game schedule that includes exactly six opponents that currently sport losing records.

The first game in that stretch comes against Houston, which looked on the way to its second straight win before falling apart late in a home loss to Buffalo (24-21) last Sunday. Two of the Texans' three wins on the year have come against the Jacksonville Jaguars (who smoked the Jets by a 41-0 count back in Week 5), and Gary Kubiak's club is 1-7 against all other opponents.

Houston will be making its second trip to the swamps of Jersey in four weeks, after playing the Giants there to open the November portion of their schedule.

SERIES HISTORY

The Jets have won their only two meetings with the Texans all-time, taking a 19-14 road decision in 2003 and a 29-7 home affair in 2004. The Texans are 0-2 all-time at the Meadowlands, including a 14-10 loss to the Giants in Week 9.

Kubiak and Mangini have never met each other, nor one another's respective franchise, as head coaches.

TEXANS OFFENSE VS. JETS DEFENSE

Texans quarterback David Carr (1896 passing yards, 9 TD, 6 INT) has been remarkably efficient in his first year under Kubiak, with last week's performance against the Bills taking that efficiency to a new level. Carr completed 25-of-30 passes for 223 yards with an interception against Buffalo, including a string of 22 consecutive passes that tied an NFL record set earlier this season by the Redskins' Mark Brunell. Still, Carr has gone four straight games without a touchdown pass, and his inability to convert a 3rd- and-2 pass to wideout Andre Johnson (74 receptions, 4 TD) late in the going gave Buffalo a chance to win the game on a final drive. Johnson led the Texans in receiving yet again, hauling in six passes for 76 yards to bring his NFL- leading catch total to 68. No. 2 receiver Eric Moulds (39 receptions, 1 TD) added five grabs for 68 yards against his former team. The play of rookie tight end Owen Daniels (26 receptions, 5 TD) has dropped off lately, with the Wisconsin product logging just one catch against the Bills. The design of Kubiak's offense has helped the team better protect Carr, who has been sacked 24 times this year after spending most of his first four seasons in the pros on his back.

The lack of a pass rush has been a major sticking point for the Jets this season, as Mangini's club ranks near the bottom of the league with just 18 sacks. Four of those belong to strong safety Kerry Rhodes, who leads NFL defensive backs in sacks as Week 12 begins. If New York wishes to realizes its playoff hopes, it will likely need a greater contribution from more prototypical pass rushers Shaun Ellis (3 sacks) and Bryan Thomas (3 sacks) beginning this week. The secondary has done a nice job, especially in light of the pressure heaped upon them by the absence of a pass rush. The team did have something of a hiccup last week, however, when rookie Drew Coleman (22 tackles, 2 sack) allowed Bears wideout Mark Bradley too much space on a quick throw near the sideline and was burned for a 57-yard touchdown. The job of covering Johnson and Moulds this week will likely fall to Andre Dyson (45 tackles, 3 INT) and David Barrett (25 tackles, 2 INT), with Erik Coleman (61 tackles, 1 INT) helping out from his safety position.

Houston has tried three different running backs this season, each with varying degrees of success. Rookie Wali Lundy (404 rushing yards, 3 TD, 19 receptions) looked on the verge of assuming lead rusher duties when he went for 116 yards against the Titans in Week 8, but the University of Virginia product has averaged just 3.1 yards per carry since. Lundy did have a a 17-yard rushing touchdown against the Bills last week, but the most effective Texans back was ex-Packer Samkon Gado (213 rushing yards, 1 TD, 15 receptions), who carried 10 times for 69 yards, caught five passes for 30 yards out of the backfield, and scored his first touchdown in a Houston uniform on a one-yard plunge in the second quarter. Ron Dayne, who started three games for the Texans in the first half of the year, was inactive for a second straight contest last Sunday.

The Jets have struggled against the run all year, ranking 29th in NFL rushing defense (146.2 yards per game) as Week 12 begins and having given up a league- high 13 rushing touchdowns on the year. Last week, Bears running back Thomas Jones gutted them for a season-high 121 yards on 23 rushes, while backup Cedric Benson amassed 51 yards of his own on 10 totes. Avoiding that type of effort this week will start up front, where interior linemen Dewayne Robertson (42 tackles, 2 sacks) and Kimo von Oelhoffen (22 tackles, 1 sack) must be sturdy at the point of attack. Von Oelhoffen had three tackles in the Chicago loss. Linebackers Jonathan Vilma (84 tackles, 1 INT), Eric Barton (75 tackles, 2 sacks), and Victor Hobson (50 tackles, 2 sacks, 1 INT) all have decent tackles numbers this season, though none have been renowned for their playmaking. Vilma and Hobson had nine stops each against the Bears.

JETS OFFENSE VS. TEXANS DEFENSE

Jets quarterback Chad Pennington (1888 passing yards, 10 TD, 11 INT) comes off another in a long line of shaky outings, as he completed just 19-of-35 passes for 162 yards with one very costly end-zone interception in the shutout loss to the Bears. Pennington hasn't eclipsed the 200-yard passing mark in any of his last six outings, and he has one touchdown pass versus five interceptions in his last three games combined. This week, the Marshall product will look to get in lock-step with wideouts Laveranues Coles (59 receptions, 3 TD) and Jerricho Cotchery (44 receptions, 4 TD), who are 1-2 on the team in every major pass-catching category. The Jets got their best contribution of the season from third wideout Tim Dwight last week, as Dwight caught a season-high five balls for 40 yards and added a 28-yard rush. Tight end Chris Baker (17 receptions, 2 TD) last scored a touchdown back in Week 3. The young Jets o- line has protected Pennington erratically, but has given up a modest 22 sacks on the year.

Pennington will look to attack a Houston secondary that allowed Bills quarterback J.P. Losman (340 passing yards, 3 TD, 1 INT) and wide receiver Lee Evans (11 receptions, 265 yards, 2 TD) to have career days at Reliant Stadium last week. Losman and Evans hooked up for not one, but two 83-yard touchdown passes in the first nine minutes of the game, and the signal-caller completed a 15-yard pass to Peerless Price to win the contest in the closing seconds. The lone highlight for the team was cornerback Dunta Robinson's interception and subsequent nine-yard touchdown return to put Houston ahead in the third quarter. Robinson (50 tackles, 2 INT) and Demarcus Faggins (13 tackles, 1 sack, 1 INT) will cover Coles and Cotchery this week, and safeties Glenn Earl (43 tackles, 1 sack, 1 INT) and C.C. Brown (53 tackles, 1 sack) will have to do a better job of lending support than they did against Buffalo. The Houston pass rush came up with two sacks last week, though neither was by rookie defensive end and No. 1 overall draft pick Mario Williams (4.5 sacks), who has been shut out of the sack column in each of his last two games. Strongside linebacker Shantee Orr (25 tackles, 1.5 sacks) did get to Losman in the loss. Houston ranks near the bottom of the league with just 18 sacks on the year.

The Jets' running-back-by-committee approach was in full effect in last week's loss to the Bears, as second-year-pro Cedric Houston (109 rushing yards, 1 TD) was dusted off after missing a large portion of the year with a hyperxtended knee and carried 11 times for a season-high 50 yards. Houston has been the team's most consistent back when healthy this season, and should continue to see time in a rotation that will also include rookie scatback Leon Washington (454 rushing yards, 2 TD) and perhaps short-yardage man Kevan Barlow (329 rushing yards, 6 TD). Washington carried 13 times for just 22 yards in the Chicago loss, and Barlow was limited to two yards on a total of four carries.

The Texans rank a middle-of-the-road 22nd in the league against the run (125.2 yards per game), but did a good job in holding Buffalo rusher Anthony Thomas to just 56 yards on 19 carries. With season-ending injuries to starting tackles Seth Payne (knee) and Travis Johnson (calf) hampering them, Houston is down to spare parts such as Anthony Maddox (14 tackles) and Thomas Johnson (10 tackles) on the interior line. Johnson had a pair of tackles against the Bills, and helped set up linebackers DeMeco Ryans (85 tackles, 2.5 sacks), Shantee Orr (25 tackles, 1.5 sacks), and Morlon Greenwood (58 tackles, 1 sack, 1 INT) for success behind him. Ryans and Orr had six tackles each in the Buffalo loss, while Greenwood chipped in with five. Ryans, a rookie out of Alabama, leads Houston in stops on the year.

OVERALL ANALYSIS

The Jets have had trouble putting together back-to-back strong performances this year, but it is also worth noting that the team has yet to play poorly in consecutive games under Mangini. Their two most troubling losses of the year, to the Jaguars and Browns, were followed up with stabilizing victories in the next game, and there is reason to expect that pattern to hold this time around. Pennington and his receivers should have a solid day against a Houston team that doesn't rush the passer or defend in the secondary especially well, and the Texans offense will struggle to remain consistent in the face of the Jets' ever-shifting defensive looks. New York will improve its postseason chances with a decisive win, with an eye toward showing some rare multi-game consistency in next Sunday's trip to Green Bay.

My Sportsbook Predicted Outcome: Jets 24, Texans 7