Since the Texans joined the NFL in 2002, they’ve faced the Cowboys only seven times. The eighth meeting happens today.

During his Friday appearance on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said he’d like to play the Texans more often. And he suggested the league is considering the possibility of embracing geographic rivalries between teams from opposing conferences.

“You can add that in the mix, and I’m not saying it’s not in the mix,” Jones said. “It’s just that other things come up and you have a different reason for the scheduling. We obviously have a rotation involved that is the best as far as fair, complete competition year-in, year-out, around the entire league. But it’s certainly something that I would look at.

“And I wouldn’t just narrow it down to Dallas and Houston. I’d look at the entire league, you saw a game on TV [Thursday] night between Cleveland and Pittsburgh. They’re in the same division, but those kinds of proximities, those kinds of ‘my town against your town, and who’s the best town?’ Which I think is a fundamental of our game of football. ‘My town against your town. My school against your school.’ That’s a big part of it. It’s hard to emulate anyplace but in the United States to get that rolling.”

It would have been a great way to deal with the 17th game. Instead, the league added an interconference game tied to a rotation of divisions and the spot at which the team finished in the prior season. Perhaps the geographic rivalries could become a feature of an 18-game season. (Or the inevitable 19-game season.)

Beyond the Texans and the Cowboys, other no-brainer annual interconference rivalries would include the Jets and Giants, the Rams and Chargers, the 49ers and Raiders, the Ravens and Commanders, the Steelers and Eagles, the Buccaneers and Jaguars, the Titans and Falcons.

There wouldn’t be 16 natural fits, so the league would have to identify one annual rival for each team if it ever adopts that approach. Packers and Chiefs. Bears and Colts (especially if the Bears move to Indiana). Lions and Browns. Broncos and Seahawks.

There would still be questions to answer. Who would the Bills’ and Patriots’ annual rivals be? Would the Vikings and Bengals become a geographic rivalry by default?

The Dolphins would perhaps fit with the Saints or Panthers. The Cardinals would be lost in the wilderness.

Still, the existence of a few forced rivalries would be more than offset by a cluster of annual games between teams linked by location. The league could even set the games for the same weekend every year, with a marketing slogan and special Nike uniforms.

And, yes, the more it could be turned into a moneymaker, the more likely it would be to happen.