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HOUSTON — Is this the biggest game in Houston Texans history?



A case can certainly be made that it is. Just like their last game, a narrow loss at Indy was. Just like, win or lose tonight, the rematch Sunday against the Colts will be.



That’s life as an expansion franchise in the playoff conversation this deep into the season for the first time.



And while Gary Kubiak, coach of a 5-4 team, downplays it a bit, he likes it too.



“I think it’s positive that we’re here in the back half of the season and talking about playing in some big games,” he said. “That obviously hasn’t been the case around here in the early stages of this franchise. We’ve got a long, long way to go and we’ve got seven football games left. So much changes in this league week-to-week. We know each one is a very pivotal game for our football team. That’s what you what to be in. Heck, that’s why you’re part of this business.”

The New York Jets‘ season has gotten away from them, but at least they’re not the Cleveland Browns.



Jets receiver Braylon Edwards arrived in a Week 5 trade with the Browns. He wasn’t able to enjoy the atmosphere when the Jets started 3-0. He personally has gone 1-9 in his two stops this season.



“I think frustration lies in the fact that I know what is here,” Edwards said. “I know what this team has. Coming from Cleveland, where — I love those guys to death over there, the players — but they are not a good team right now. They are not in a good situation.



“So leaving that situation, I knew what it was like to be in a bad situation. Coming here, I saw a team that was focused, playing well together, coached by a great man and have a lot of role players and coaches. There is a lot of positive energy in here.”



The Browns lost all four of the games Edwards played in. The Jets have gone from a No. 5 position in ESPN’s Power Rankings to losing five out of their six games since the trade.



Edwards has 17 receptions for 281 yards and two touchdowns for the Jets. The New England Patriots held him to one catch for 10 yards Sunday in Gillette Stadium. Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez completed three times as many passes to Patriots cornerback Leigh Bodden.



“We have the potential to be a good team, but potential is nothing without reality,” Edwards said. “We haven’t met that potential since I’ve been here. We’ve been up and down and inconsistent. That is why we lose.



“What we have to do, it gets repetitive. I’ve been making this speech for five years for me. We have to find a way to come out and finish games. Start fast, maintain and then finish. We have to find a way to do that.



“It has to happen now. It had to happen last week, it didn’t. Who knows what will happen these next six games. We need to take it a game at a time. We have Carolina coming up and that’s our focus. We have to get it together somehow.”

Trash Talk: It’s painfully obvious to me that the schedule makers at the NFL don’t understand Thanksgiving. Nice job, schedule makers. Maybe next year you should spend more time creating appropriate matchups and less time stuffing your faces with turducken.

Trash Talk: It’s painfully obvious to me that the schedule makers at the NFL don’t understand Thanksgiving.