by By JOHN McCLAIN, HOUSTON CHRONICLE , The Houston Chronicle

It was the Texans' 24-21 loss to Buffalo in 2006, Kubiak's first season as coach.

What frightened Kubiak the most was watching receiver Lee Evans catch two 83-yard touchdown passes in the first quarter and finish with 11 catches for 265 yards.

"Since Dick (Jauron) is still their coach, I went back and watched that game," Kubiak said Friday. "Those were two huge plays in the first quarter. They were big plays against man coverage, double moves. But he makes big plays against a lot of people."

If Evans makes those kind of plays, the Texans won't be 5-3 for the first time.

"It was an amazing performance, just unbelievable," cornerback Dunta Robinson said about Evans' 83-yard TD catches in the first quarter. "I've never seen that, and I doubt I'll see that again.

"He's even better now. He's got more experience. He's a better route runner, but he can still run right by you."

The Texans recovered from Evans' touchdowns and led 21-17 until J.P. Losman threw a 15-yard TD pass to Peerless Price with 9 seconds left.

"I remember they burned us with big plays early, and then we had them, but they beat us in the last seconds," said middle linebacker DeMeco Ryans, a rookie then.

Old college ties

Another rookie in 2006 was tight end Owen Daniels. He and Evans played together at Wisconsin.

"He was a great receiver in college, just super explosive and with great hands," Daniels said. "That was an incredible game he had against us. After the game, I don't know what I said to him, but I imagine it was something like, ?I didn't know you were that fast,' or ?Why'd you do that to us?' I mean, he was tremendous."

Evans leads the Bills with 21 catches for 302 yards and three touchdowns. He starts opposite Terrell Owens. This week, Owens called his statistics - 18 receptions for 242 yards and one TD - pathetic.

"T.O. is still capable of getting 200 yards on you," Robinson said. "He's capable of exploding any time. He can still get open."

The last time the Texans played against Owens, it was also 2006, but he played for Dallas. He caught three touchdown passes in the Cowboys' 34-6 victory.

Strong safety Bernard Pollard was asked this week what it's like covering Owens.

"I don't want to cover him; I want to hit him," Pollard said.

The Bills' starting quarterback for the second game in a row is Ryan Fitzpatrick. Trent Edwards is out with a concussion.

When Fitzpatrick started for Cincinnati last season, the Texans won 35-6. In 2005, when Fitzpatrick was a rookie with the Rams, he came off the bench to throw for 310 yards and three touchdowns in St. Louis' 33-27 victory at Reliant Stadium.

"He's a warrior," Robinson said. "He's taken advantage of the opportunities he's been given. When the starter goes down, he goes in, and he's reliable. He does what it takes to win."

Fitzpatrick won his first start at Carolina on Sunday.

Fitzpatrick stands out

"After we traded Sage (Rosenfels), he's one of the quarterbacks we studied, and he was high on our list," Kubiak said. "He's a fine quarterback. We know what their weapons are capable of. We're going to have to stop the run, too."

The Bills have Marshawn Lynch and Fred Jackson at running back. The Texans have given up 48.5 yards rushing in their past four games, fewest in the NFL during that period.

"We're at a point where we think we can shut down any running game if we do our assignments the way we're supposed to," Ryans said. "We know they'll throw deep on us, but our goal is to stop the run first."

john.mcclain@chron.com

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