GREG COTE’S NFL WEEK 9 THURSDAY PICK

TEXANS (6-2) at JETS (2-6)

Line: NYJ by 2.

Cote’s pick: HOU, 23-20.

TV: 8:15 p.m. Thursday, Prime Video.

Upset! Sort of. (Well, technically.) Aaron Rodgers has now spent 1 1/2 seasons disappointing Jets fans, yet blinded-by-hope New Yorkers keep overbetting him, and the NFL keeps giving him big stages. Hence, this is NYJ’s second Thursday night gig, and it finds clearly the lesser of these two teams inexplicably the one favored. Jets have lost five in a row, Rodgers has more excuses than answers, and the hyped-up Planes defense is outside the NFL top 10 in points allowed. Jets beat Texans, 30-6, last year, but times have changed. Fast. C.J. Stroud has made Houston good, thanks partly to a pass defense that has allowed only one 200-yard game thus far — no remedy apparent for Rodgers’ woes. How to explain the betting line? Well, Stroud has not been as great on the road and is missing top WR Stefon Diggs to injury. But nothing explains this betting line as well as the stubborn, illogical and continuing belief that Rodgers suddenly won’t be almost 41 years old. These teams are comparable defensively, and Stroud makes Texans better with the ball.

(Betting line courtesy ESPNBet as of afternoon Wednesday.)

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