Once again, the NFL decided to put a “New York” team in primetime, giving football fans exactly what they hoped to see. Tonight the New York Jets welcome the Houston Texans to MetLife Stadium Thursday night football.

A matchup that generated plenty of intrigue early in the season now features a Jets team bloated with talent and has opted to end the season by parting ways with head coach Robert Saleh. The Jets, now 2-6, haven’t won a game since Saleh received a personal escort from their New Jersey campus — and they currently occupy the cellar of the AFC East. A team-wide retreat into the darkness with special tea may be just what you need to fix whatever’s broken.

Or not.

As for the Texans, they reached the Meadowlands with an AFC South-best 6-2 record. Quarterback C.J. Stroud found his second season more challenging, but he is playing well in providing complementary football to Houston’s stout defense. Things won’t get any easier for Stroud tonight, as he’ll have to go up against a Jets defense without wide receivers Nico Collins (another week on IR) and Stefon Diggs (out for the season with ACL injury).

Despite that, this feels like a game the Texans should win easily. These Jets are not the standard of seasons past, and their silliness is made all the more fun by the constant interference Rodgers initiates in a short-sighted attempt to recapture that vintage Green Bay magic.

Buffalo Bills fans should cheer for the Jets tonight because the Bills could really benefit from the Texans losing a few games. Maybe it’s because of that special leaf drink that Rodgers is skipping, but the Jets enter tonight as a 2.5-point favorite (-2.5) with FanDuel Sportsbook. Crazy, right? Yes. The Jets are actually favored because they are the home team in this short-week game, not because they are observably better than Houston.

Here’s what Rachel Auberger explained tonight about supporting the Jets:

It makes sense to root for the division opponent here, but don’t worry, they’re the cellar dwellers right now, so winning won’t hurt the Bills. If someone were to beat the Texans, that would help immensely. Buffalo can’t do anything to get above Houston on their own due to their Week 5 loss at Texas. So until they’re a few games behind the Bills, we’ll root for whoever they’re playing for.

The Texans will most likely look to make heavy use of running back Joe Mixon, while Stroud will have to learn to view wide receiver Tank Dell as his new current WR1. If the Jets want to win tonight, they’ll have to catch lightning in an interim head coaching bottle — and find standout games from the likes of Rodgers, Breece Hall, Davante Adams, Garrett Wilson and a host of defensive players. Regardless of who plays football for these Jets, everything feels broken. So much for the Super Bowl. This team feels like a failure.

While backing the Jets benefits the Bills, I can’t pick them to beat the Texans – regardless of their injuries at receiver.

This can get ugly quickly. I’ll be paying more attention to costumes in the audience, and of course tuning in to Fitzmagic and the always great TNF crew.

Houston Texans 31, New York Jets 20

Photo by Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images