Oakland at Houston

Bookmaker.com line – Houston -9 (41)

      OK, Oakland stunk out the joint Sunday against better-than-expected Denver, but 9 points? Only Tampa Bay and Cleveland have given up more points than the befuddling Texans, whose only win came against winless Tennessee. The Raiders are starting to wonder if strong-armed JaMarcus Russell is a permanent tease. Even throwing mostly check-offs and underneath stuff, he completed only 12 of 21 passes for just 42 yards in the Broncos loss. The Texans have to put their pedal to the mettle on this one because four of the next five are on the road.