Writing mid-week about this weekend’s game against the Bengals, R in CT wrote, “To paraphrase Gen. Ackbar of the rebel alliance: ‘It’s a trap!’”

Star Wars references are always appreciated – this particular one from Return of the Jedi – and my only disappointment with the writer in this case was a slight mistake in referring to Ackbar as a general rather than his proper title of admiral. If that qualifies me as a participant for a different version of the “The Biggest Loser,” so be it, and in the interest of full disclosure on Star Wars-related stuff, I will tell you that perched atop the NFC's media guides in my work space in Florham Park, is a small plastic Boba Fett figurine.

And when it comes to Return of the Jedi quotes I much prefer C-3PO’s description of the all-powerful Sarlaac to the small group of the condemned.

“In his belly you will find a new definition of pain and suffering as you are slowly digested over a thousand years.”

Kind of like listening to Cubs fans in the last week.

Anyway, the issue most pressing is this: many Jets fans looked worriedly at this game and that was BEFORE Marvin Lewis’ announcement Friday that Ryan Fitzpatrick, the former Harvard quarterback, would start for the injured Carson Palmer. So are you more concerned now? Less?

I will steal from another 80’s movie character, Mr. Miyagi.

“Different, but same.”

Different in that Ryan Fitzpatrick is not Carson Palmer, but same in that the Jets should still win, because regardless of who is behind center for the Bengals, here’s what Cincinnati was bringing to the Meadowlands: an offense ranked 29th in the league in points scored (14.8), 31st in total yards (239.2), 30th in rushing and 27th in passing (161.2).

“We all look at that team and say, ‘It's just a matter of time that they explode’” Brett Favre said Wednesday.

And it was at least possible to envision that happening with Palmer playing and flinging it around to Chad Ocho Cinco and T.J. Houshmandzadeh but with Fitzpatrick? Not to flippantly dismiss someone who doesn’t have much in the way of a trail of tape to follow, but against a bad Browns defense in his last start, Sept. 28, he threw three interceptions and was sacked three times. The Jets defense, obviously, has not covered the slot at all this year and has struggled against the pass – particularly on third down – but two things the unit has done is sack the quarterback (13 times) and force turnovers. Relating to that, one constant of previous Marvin Lewis-coached teams was their ability to win the turnover battle, but this year they rank 27th in the league at minus-four. The Jets rank seventh at plus-two.

The Bengals defense has been a little better than their offense. It ranks 19th overall (338.6), including an impressive No. 6 ranking against the pass (167.6). But that is misleading in a way because the Bengals are so terrible against the run – ranked 29th (171.0) – teams haven’t had to pass. Favre should be able to torch a young, mistake-prone secondary, and this would also be the week to get Thomas Jones and Leon Washington consistently involved. As for rushing the passer, do the Bengals at least do that well? Nope, just three sacks this year.

Speaking of sacks, the Bengals have given up 14 this season behind an offensive line that, strangely, only gave up 17 all of last year. That kind of year for the Bengals but, as the bottom line goes, bad teams make bad plays and find ways to lose. Good teams do the opposite.

The jury might still be out on what kind of team the Jets ultimately are, but the jury already has come back on the Bengals for this season: guilty, on all charges, of not being very good.

I thought this would be a close one - even with a limited Palmer - but I don’t see an advantage anywhere on the field for Cincinnati, which expended a lot of energy last week in playing Dallas to the wire. I keep looking at all the matchups to find a case for Cincy other than the unknown quantity that is Fitzpatrick, but that’s just not enough. After some early emotion and maybe a few plays made by Fitzpatrick as the Jets get adjusted, to me it looks like…

Jets 27, Bengals 10.

* Moving on to the rest of the league and the picks. We tourniqueted (not a word, but whatever) the bleeding here somewhat last weekend in the NFL, going 7-5-2 to move to 38-33-3 overall. Having rambled enough already this evening and not yet done doing so, I present this weekend’s picks against the spread and with my sincerest apologies in advance and the advice to not use them for any cash wagers [best bet in CAPS]:

Colts, Falcons, Raiders, Seahawks, Browns, Cowboys, Texans, Redskins, Eagles, PATRIOTS, Panthers, Lions, Broncos.

Again, before jumping to the college selections, a reminder the above picks are against the spread. Meaning, for example, I don’t actually think the Browns will beat the Giants, just cover the spread (yes, I have an idea of what you’re going to say, John Z, but call it a hunch).

* Now, on to Saturday, a day last weekend I went 1-2 and went to bed playing the “If” game.

IF Auburn had even a I-AA caliber offense it would have beaten Vanderbilt; IF Wisconsin’s linebackers didn’t simply stare at Terrelle Pryor on his game-winning touchdown run the Badgers might have held on to upset Ohio State; IF that blonde at the bar…well, forget it.

Notre Dame, as it has all season, came up a winner for us last Saturday so we’ll start with the Irish. Several readers have misconstrued comments made here in recent weeks about Notre Dame so I should clarify. I do not hate ND. In fact, if you grow up in Northeast Ohio as I did, the two most popular college teams are Ohio State and Notre Dame. The thing about the Irish is this: I keep waiting for these top 10 recruiting classes I’ve been hearing and reading about for the last six or seven years to kick in. This 4-1 start against a joke of a schedule has me wondering: are the standards in South Bend so low now that escaping with close victories against lousy San Diego State and Stanford teams really cause for celebration? As Gov. Palin might say, “Say it ain’t so.”

They’re better than that. Or should be.

* But I do believe the following: Notre Dame is still woefully behind the top teams in terms of speed and athleticism, but Jimmy Clausen is a legitimate stud quarterback. And therefore, when it comes to our immediate concern, I take Notre Dame to cover the nine points against a solid UNC team. North Carolina should win, but I see it close, mainly because of Clausen.

Quickly, to a couple of headliners this weekend: I’ll take No. 1 Oklahoma to cover a tough number (6 ½ at last glance) in the Red River Shootout against No. 5 Texas. And it should be just that – a shootout – with the respective stats Sooners’ QB Sam Bradford and Longhorns’ QB Colt McCoy have put up. The last time both these programs were ranked in the top 5, in 2004, Oklahoma won 12-0 in one of the dullest college games I’ve ever seen (not in the same league, however, as that 3-2 Auburn win over Mississippi State). Saturday’s Red River Shootout assuredly won’t be anywhere near either of those scores.

Finally, to the SEC Saturday night with LSU visiting Florida. Strictly a home-field situation on this one. Going with the Gators to win but LSU to cover. Six points is a big number when it comes to two pretty equal SEC teams.

Not much more that can be done from this end. Talk to you Sunday from the Meadowlands.

"We're trying to get it not a week-to-week thing," Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said today after practice. "We want to get the thing calmed down so it doesn't give him any irritation or problems at all."

Fitzpatrick started against the Browns Sept. 28 and went 21-for-35 for 156 yards with three interceptions in a 20-12 loss. And, yes, the Browns' defense is terrible.

Anthony Rieber filled in for me at Jets practice today and when reporters talked to players and coach Eric Mangini - [congrats again to the coach for the real news of importance from the day: the birth of his third child] - they were not aware that Palmer had been ruled out so I'm guessing there's no reaction to it. Fans shouldn't get overconfident here - as the old saying goes, the other guys get paid to play, too- but there's zero excuse now for the Jets not winning this game. Back early this evening with Pick 'em Friday after I write all my Sunday stuff.

No, no, glad to be here.

I'm here, but Eric Mangini is not. He has a good reason. His wife, Julie, gave birth to the couple's third son this morning. Mazel Tov. We'll get the proud papa later.

So I have nothing to report. Talk amongst yourselves.

What's the greatest issue of our time? Well, obviously, the Jets' throwback Titans jersies, which they are wearing again this week.

I like them, but my buddy Baumbach over at my real blog, The Final Score, doesn't. Since we dont have any football stuff to talk about yet today, this will have to do.

Baumbach's the one who caught up with Joe Namath earlier this week.

* Reader BigM asked about Jesse Chatman yesterday. Based on how Mangini talked about him, my guess is he’ll play Sunday.

“It comes down to that last, those last few decisions there,” Mangini said of deciding whether Chatman will be on Sunday’s 45-man roster. “And Jesse does do a good job on special teams, which is definitely a consideration. And usually that’s the determining factor in that group.”

* Damien Woody did not practice a second straight day because of an illness.

“A cold,” is how Mangini described the illness. “I think it’s like a lot of parents; kids go to school, they bring something home. You get sick. It’s happened.”

* Though he didn’t say it outright, Mangini sounded as if he’ll start Abram Elam in place of Eric Smith Sunday.

“I’m completely comfortable with it,” Mangini said of the prospect of Elam starting. “He does have that experience, he has those games. I think this was his first start last year was Cincinnati. So here we are.”

* I had an interesting talk – I thought so anyway – with Darrelle Revis and Dwight Lowery about facing receivers who like to talk a lot. The Bengals’ Chad Johnson typically qualifies, though Revis said when the Jets faced the Bengals last year, he didn’t recall Johnson, who had three catches for 102 yards, doing much in the way of trash-talking.

“Last year, he’d say ‘good coverage’ or stuff after routes,” Revis said. “He was cool. He wasn’t running at the mouth in the negative way. He was just being friendly.”

Lowery said facing receivers who talk “is fun” and Revis said it doesn’t bother him either.

“You hear it but sometimes I might laugh at it,” Revis said. “I might say something but I’m not a talker, I’m not a guy who’s going back and forth with that. I just focus on what I have to do.”

* Mangini’s wife, Julie, is expected to deliver the couple’s third child tomorrow (Friday) morning at 6 a.m.

“Kickoff is at 6,” Mangini said. “Arrive at the stadium at 4, kickoff is at 6.”

Asked if Julie would find his football analogy “cute,” Mangini gave an outstanding line.

“At this point in her pregnancy, not much that I do is cute.”

* Brett Favre on his recollection of the last game he came off the bench, Sept. 20, 1992 against the Bengals, which spearheaded his streak of consecutive starts that reaches 258 Sunday.

“My first real, true test,” Favre said. “I played the previous week, but we were getting blown out. It holds a special place for the reason that we won. I came in in relief and led us from behind. It really was the start of my career. I never sat out after that point. It just happened to be against Cincinnati.”

Here’s the lede to the Associated Press’s dispatch from Lambeau Field that day:

“Brett Favre, forced into the game by a first-quarter injury to Don Majkowski, threw a 35-yard touchdown pass to Kitrick Taylor with 13 seconds left, giving the Packers a hard-to-believe 24-23 victory over the Bengals.”

Fast fact: that turned out to be the only touchdown of Taylor’s six-year career. I looked it up because I hadn’t heard that name in a long, long time.

* Lastly, Tom Rock, who as you know used to cover the Jets for Newsday before moving over to the Giants, emailed me this thread from bigblueinteractive.com. Rock and the Giants will be in my hometown Monday night. Now, these jokes are retreads, meaning plug in the bad NFL team of your choice, but that said, they’re still pretty funny. Why am I sharing this with you when it has nothing to do with the Jets? The same reason I've recently put up pictures of a cow and a rhinoceros: why not?

Among the jokes:

“The Ohio State Police are cracking down on speeders heading into Cleveland.
For the first offense, they give you two Cleveland Browns tickets. If you get stopped a second time, they make you use them.”

Q. What do you call 47 millionaires around a TV watching the Super Bowl?
A. The Cleveland Browns

Q. What do the Cleveland Browns and Billy Graham have in common?
A. They both can make 70,000 people stand up and yell "Jesus Christ".

Q. How do you keep a Cleveland Brown out of your yard?
A. Put up goal post.

Q. What do you call a Cleveland Brown with a Super Bowl ring?
A. A thief.

Q. How many Cleveland Browns does it take to win a Super Bowl?
A. Nobody knows and we may never find out!

Q. What do the Browns and a possums have in common?
A. Both play dead at home and get killed on the road!"

Um, thank you, Tom. And have a great trip.

As for me, I’m off tomorrow, though by late afternoon (don’t worry, squishthefish), I’ll have my weekly picks post up. Please hold the sarcasm about said picks until then. Thanks.

Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer threw on a limited basis yesterday and reading through the transcript of his interview with Cincy reporters yesterday, it appears as if the injury to his right elbow isn’t getting much better. Of course, he was limited the week leading up to the Cowboys game and had a decent enough day, going 23-for-39 for 217 yards with two TDs and one INT.

“We’ll probably go with the same approach as last week and hopefully be ready to play on Sunday,” Palmer said.

And that approach was?

“Throw as little as possible and let it rest as much as possible, and make a decision later in the week and see what the doctors say,” Palmer said.

Bengals coach Marvin Lewis, in his news conference yesterday, said the Bengals’ play-calling –specifically in terms of throwing deep – wasn’t impacted by Palmer’s injury, but the quarterback hinted differently.

“I know Brat (offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski) was definitely conscious of it,” Palmer said. “He knew the situation, what was going on. We talked.”

The Jets, naturally, will prepare, as they should, as if Palmer will be 100 percent. The bigger concern might be the Bengals re-signing running back Kenny Watson, whose contract the team terminated Oct. 4, on Monday of this week. Watson, as everyone remembers, filled in for the injured Rudi Johnson last season against the Jets and rushed for a career-best 130 yards and three TDs. So far this season, Watson has seven carries for 32 yards. Somehow, I think his name has come up a few times in defensive meetings this week.

Speaking of the running game, as mentioned yesterday, this would be the week for the Jets to get theirs going as the Bengals are 29th in the league against the run, allowing 171 yards per game. The Cowboys had 198 rushing yards last week against Cincinnati.

“I don’t think we’ve run the ball poorly,” said Eric Mangini, whose team overall has a 3.8 yards per carry average. I think we’ve run the ball well at times, and I think that there’s been other times where you don’t get a backside block or the read is not quite correct, and you get a couple negative plays there, it skews the average.”

I wouldn’t go nuts about the running game yet. The Jets stood out in that area against Miami, had a 5.0 yard per-carry average in gaining 104 yard against the Patriots in Week 2, and then the last two weeks – against San Diego and Arizona – were games that didn’t lend themselves to committing to the ground game for various reasons.

Anyway, today’s schedule has Mangini talking to us at 10:15 a.m., player availability after that and then practice. Back after all that.

“It seems like that game was a month ago,” Favre said of the last time the Jets took the field, a 56-35 victory over the Cardinals.

Favre said he went back to Mississippi on Thursday and returned to New York Sunday.

“Didn’t do much of anything,” he said. “Going home for three days, it’s good but also you see all the things that need to be done and get stressed out.”

Favre, in discussing the winless Bengals, talked about what has been a strange last two weeks of the season.

“You never know in this game,” Favre said. “Arizona beat Miami very soundly; we beat Arizona, Arizona blows out Buffalo; San Diego beats us; Miami beats San Diego; Miami beats New England; we lose to New England. I mean, I can go on and on. Game to game, it changes. It really doesn’t matter. What matters is how we prepare this week.”

* With Eric Smith’s appeal having been denied by the league, Mangini threw out the names he’s mentioned before – Abram Elam, David Barrett, Hank Potea – in terms of candidates who would start alongside Kerry Rhodes at safety. Then he added one: Dwight Lowery.

“We rotate those guys through because what we want to be able to do is change who’s down, who’s back and one of the things that’s really important to me, especially in the secondary, is that they all understand each other’s roles because you may run some corner-over-type defenses against slot,” Mangini said.

* It was humorous to hear Mangini refer to the Bengals’ Chad as “Ocho Cinco,” and that led to a reporter [no, not me] asking Mangini if he’s ever considered a name change.

“You know, no, I’d really have to think about that,” Mangini said.

The Journal News’ Jane McManus, the other rookie on this beat who in her spare time puts together a pretty good blog and roller derbies (?)
professionally (or so she keeps telling/threatening us), suggested, “Mangenius?”

Mangini laughed.

“We all know how quickly those names change.”

* I asked Mangini to clarify his “several setbacks” remark from Monday regarding cornerback Justin Miller.

“It’s more a function of some physical setbacks that he had,” Mangini said. “And then when you’re not able to practice with the same volume of reps, it’s more choppy; it’s harder to get in a consistent groove. He’s worked through those things and hopefully will be able to get more consistent practice.”

Looking at Miller Monday and again today at practice, he looks less limited than he has in recent weeks. Only one player, David Clowney, is wearing the red no-contact jersey.

* Favre, thankfully, was NOT asked about getting “in sync” or “on the same page with” his receivers, though he ended up talking about that in a way. Mangini mentioned the weekly meetings – without coaches – Favre has with his receivers, something Favre said has been a great benefit.

“It’s pretty simple,” Favre said. “We watch the practice tape. We’ll do it today. We’ll watch practice. First and foremost, and this goes for anyone – any team, any level of play – it’s not so important you know what the other team is doing; it’s more important to know what you’re doing first and that’s what we try to get accomplished. How can we make our routes better? How can I make my read better? If we have a check, let’s make sure we’re all on the same page…I think it’s important to know what we’re doing first, and then we’re about who we’re playing second.”

* Chad Ocho Cinco came on his conference call chipper – starting with a “What’s up New York?” – but didn’t have much in the way of outlandish statements. He didn’t guarantee a victory or offer specifics, like last week, in the way of planned end zone celebrations. The Bengals' locker room, Johnson said, is still very upbeat.

* The Jets’ locker room was certainly that, with Favre leading the way, twice blasting an air horn nearby the pack of reporters around Laveranues Coles’ locker, which is next to Favre’s. Coles was asked, given the players’ proximity to each other in the locker room, to share an important insight he's gleaned about Favre.

“I know what I don’t want to look like in nine more years,” Coles said.

Favre, listening in, laughed and gave Coles a fist bump (heavy-duty reporting here, I know this).

* Coles said he talked to the Giants’ Brandon Jacobs a couple days ago and Jacobs had this response when Coles told him the Jets had Cincinnati Sunday:

“The first thing he said was, ‘Don’t sleep on them, they’re a good football team.’” Coles said. “And when you watch the film, it’s there.”

*And just because I know how unpopular they seem to be with many of you - not all but a lot - a reminder the Jets are wearing the Titans throwback jerseys again this Sunday. At least they scored 56 points their last time out in them...

So a decent amount of stuff going on today at Fort Florham – Eric Mangini holds his press conference at 10:15 a.m., to be immediately followed by Brett Favre’s weekly session with reporters. We have the players in the locker room after that, as well as a conference call with Bengals coach Marvin Lewis AND receiver Chad Ocho Cinco and you just never know what you’ll hear from him. This is partially what Dallas and later Cincinnati reporters heard last Wednesday:

“That's America's team. It's one of the greatest organizations ever," Ocho Cinco said. “This week, to show my respect for Dallas and its owner, Jerry Jones, I'm going to score and I'm going to kiss the star. I'm telling you, I'm not being rude about anything. I'm going to kiss the star. It's going to be fun. I'm excited to go to Dallas. You know, T.O. (Terrell Owens), you've got two of the don't-know-what-is-going-to-happen-next receivers playing. It's going to be fun."

It got better as he was asked about starting 0-4 (now 0-5 after the 31-22 loss in Dallas).

“Man, we are going to throw everything, including the kitchen sink, out there in Dallas. I'm bringing the cold tub, the hot tub. I'm bringing the training room. What else can we do? I think we need to open up, period. That's what I think. I think we've been very vanilla. I don't know the word to use. I'm not sure why, but at this point, you've got to go all out."

Again, with Chad “85,” one never knows. Maybe he’ll guarantee a win today. Guaranteed he’ll say something.

* Speaking of the self-aggrandizing type, our NFL columnist, Bob Glauber, is taking a break from lobbing verbal grenades at me and heading out to Florham Park today, presumably to write something about Favre. In a post yesterday that toward the end included more borderline antagonism toward my choice of vocabulary words, Glauber wrote, “Last time we heard from the ESPN.com blogger, he was linking to a competitor's column about something or other, even though I thought I'd out-written said competitor that day. But [Matt] Mosley gave us a shout-out today for our Plaxico Burress column, so it's better late than never.”

Reading that, I recalled hearing about Paul Brown famously telling his players of reaching the end zone, “Act like you’ve been there before.”

Always sage advice (though, in fairness, his Burress column was pretty good)

* Moving on, in the locker room today I expect these to be among the topics covered: playing a winless team; the overall break – and opportunity – the upcoming schedule presents; and more on how well the Jets have done the last two years after the bye, particularly on the defensive side of the ball. Obviously, that’s the area that needs the most fixing right now. Recent history suggests the Jets will be able to.

* The Bengals do present some problems and I’ll get more in depth on that in my Friday picks post [can’t wait, I know], but simply because they’ve played some good teams tough doesn’t mean they’re good. Here are some numbers: The Bengals rank 31st in the league in total offense (239.2 ypg) and 19th in total defense (338.6 ypg). To be fair, the Jets rank 20th in total defense (340.5 ypg), but those numbers are misleading to a degree, at least compared to the Bengals. The Jets are tied for seventh in the league with 13 sacks while the Bengals are tied for 31st with three. Against the rush, the Jets rank fifth, allowing 75.5 rushing yards per game, while the Bengals are giving up 171 rushing yards per game, 29th in the league. No better time than this weekend for the Jets running game to get going.

* On a semi related yet unrelated note, I held out hope early last week that Favre would NOT be asked some form of the on-the-same-page-in-sync-establishing-chemistry-with-your-receivers question in his press conference. We were let down (it happened toward the very end), but my gut tells me today’s the day. I’ll have a full report on that and the rest of the day after practice.

* Oh, and if you missed today’s paper, Newsday’s Jim Baumbach went to Bethpage State Park yesterday and caught up with Joe Namath at his (Namath’s not Jim’s) charity golf outing. There’s video of that posted below as well.

Joe Namath isn't concerned by the Jets' 2-2 start and says he's impressed by how quickly Brett Favre has been able to adjust to his new surroundings.

“I watched them yesterday and anytime you look at a team that played the Dallas Cowboys as tough as they did, I think…every game they’ve had, they’ve had tight games," Laveranues Coles said. "They’re just a scary team to play against whether they were 0-5 or 5-0, because they could just as well be 5-0 as they are 0-5. They’re a very good football team.”

Normally, talking up an 0-5 team sounds absurd, but Coles and his teammates who warned against overlooking the Bengals, weren’t stretching things. Carson Palmer has thrown the ball well at times this season and T.J. Houshmandzadeh and Chad Ocho-Cinco-Johnson-Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious are yet another tough receiver combination for the Jets secondary to deal with.

“I’ll tell you what, our defense has their hands full,” Coles said. “They come off playing Anquan Boldin and [Larry] Fitzgerald and have to turn around and play Chad Johnson and T.J. Houshmandzadeh. You have your work cut out for you. I’ll tell you, I wouldn’t ever want to be a defensive coordinator and have to face those two tandems back to back, that’s for sure.”

Rich Cimini of the Daily News asked Coles what he thought the outside perception of the Jets’ receivers is and if, given the unit’s breakout performance against the Cardinals, they might get noticed a bit more nationally. That led to the line of the day.

“They take notice of the old man, they don’t pay us [receivers] no attention,” Coles said with a laugh, gesturing toward Brett Favre’s locker which is next to his.

Moments earlier, Favre stood with the group of reporters surrounding Coles and asked a question that I didn’t hear but that Coles found funny. Must have been about getting on the same page or in sync…

* Sounds like Jay Feely will kick against the Bengals. Even though Mangini didn’t explicitly say it, his comments about Nugent’s progress didn’t leave much to the imagination.

“We’re hoping but, again, I don’t want to rush anything there and have a set-back that ends up being much longer than it should be,” Mangini said. “So we’re staying with the same path and I think it’s a good path, a good formula.”

* Based on reading the tea leaves, don’t expect to see David Clowney this weekend, either.

“Last week was the next step [in his recovery], and then moving into this week, see where he is,” Mangini said of Clowney. “And he’s got the red jersey on, so there is no contact with him. Don’t want to – want to make sure that part is okay before we would activate him.”

* In evaluating the 35-minutes of practice we saw, Justin Miller seem to be closer than the previously mentioned injured players. Miller worked some against the top-line receivers - beaten by Coles on a short out pattern - and didn’t seem limited.

* Jesse Chatman practiced today and Eric Smith was placed on the reserve/suspended list, pending his appeal, which will be heard tomorrow. In the unlikely event his appeal is successful and Smith is allowed to play Sunday, the Jets would have to make another roster move.

* Mangini on Brad Smith’s relative lack of involvement to this point in the season: “I’m still a huge Brad Smith fan; that hasn’t changed. It’s just there’s…again, this is a good situation. You have Jerricho, Laveranues, Bake (Chris Baker), Leon…down the line. There is a lot of different people, and I don’t want to force things for the sake of forcing them.”

* A brief aside: I’ve heard just about enough from solipsistic Cubs fans – including those in the media – about how miserable their sports existence is. Please. Stop. Not like they grew up in Cleveland or something.

The Jets are off tomorrow and back on the practice field Wednesday.

Smith is going through the appeal process today and, Mangini said, a final decision from the league should come "either later today or tomorrow."

Mangini said if Smith's suspension is upheld, Jesse Chatman, who is returning from his four-game suspenion, would take Smith's roster spot for this week.

I asked stat maven Randy Lange, from NewYorkJets.com, about this last week and he emailed me the following comparisons from the last two seasons, pre and post-bye. Note the striking difference in the pass defense and in the number of sacks. Anyway, here's what Randy sent along (with thanks to the Amazin' as always, although I wish I could get this chart to come out more reader-friendly. My fault, but I'm limited as frequent readers of this blog know)...

Jets NFL rankings:

OFFENSE
Tot Run Pass Pts
Before 2006 bye 24 14 23 t17
End of 2006 season 25 20 17 18
DEFENSE
Tot Run Pass Pts
Before 2006 bye 29 29 22 24
End of 2006 Season 20 24 14 6

OFFENSE
Tot Run Pass Pts
Before 2007 bye 28 22 23 24
End of 2007 season 26 19 25 25
DEFENSE
Tot Run Pass Pts
Before 2007 bye 30 29 23 27
End of 2007 season 18 29 9 19

SACKS
G Sax Sax/G
Before 2006 bye 8 13 1.6
After 2006 bye 8 22 2.8

Before 2007 bye 9 9 1.0
After 2007 bye 7 20 2.9

I can only hope for such post-bye improvement in this space. Back after practice.

That’s about where we are four weeks into the season of picks, though plenty of sweat has been spilled in attaining our mediocrity. Where are we? After going a mediocre 7-6 in Week 4, our current standing is a mediocre 31-28-1.

The overall record – three games above .500, isn’t awful – but with Giants beat writer Tom Rock (33-26-1) and Newsday’s NFL columnist Bob Glauber (32-27-1) – pulling ahead somewhat, there’s some work to be done this weekend.

With the Jets off on Sunday, I’ll sit back on the World’s Most Famous Futon (trademark) and casually watch the games, with these four, in no particular order, that most interest me:

Washington at Philadelphia because every game in the NFC East is must-see at this point; Buffalo at Arizona because the Bills struggled with the appalling Rams for quite a bit last week; Tennessee at Baltimore because, even though his stats were pedestrian, you couldn’t help but watch Joe Flacco Monday night in Pittsburgh and not want to see him play again; and New England at San Francisco because the 49ers aren’t terrible and panic will start to set in with the Pats if Matt Cassel turns in another sub-par game.

As always, fair warning that these picks against the spread should not be used – other than by this blogger – for any actual cash wager. Put another way, as the old German proverb goes, “A man trying to sell a blind horse always praises its feet.”

Exactly.

The picks, with the best bet in CAPS: Giants, Bears, Colts, Bengals, Jaguars, Eagles, Chargers, Panthers, Cardinals, Saints, Ravens, Packers, BRONCOS, Patriots.

* College-wise, last weekend produced a 2-1 record here, with Notre Dame – to which mediocrity never looked so good – and Illinois coming through ATS for the purposes of this blog’s picks. And, yes, I did write this last week in regard to Alabama/Georgia: “Georgia is flat-out better.” If it makes a difference, at 31-0 Alabama in the second, I began to think I had worded that poorly.

To Saturday:

* Fast fact only relevant to me: I’ve picked every Notre Dame game correctly this year (tallest midget in the circus kind of thing there, I know), so I will lead with a game only NBC, the student Leprechaun and Lou Holtz could love: Stanford at Notre Dame. In the ghastly season that was 2007, one of ND's three victories came at Stanford. Jim Harbaugh has things a bit better at Stanford than they’ve been in recent years, but while Stanford’s defense isn’t as bad as the one Purdue brought to South Bend last week, it still isn’t very good, meaning another nice game for Jimmy Clausen. Against this tomato-can schedule, Notre Dame covers and goes from the worst 3-1 team in the nation to the worst 4-1 one.

* Now, to a couple of headliner games on Saturday: I think Terrelle Pryor will be a terrific player at Ohio State but there’s been a bit of an overreaction to anointment based on his performances against Troy (please) and Minnesota, which is pretty much always bad. Ohio State is a slight favorite, but when Wisconsin is good - which it is this year despite coughing up the Michigan game - Camp Randall Stadium is one of the harshest road environments in college football. Throw in the fact Ohio State rarely plays well at Camp Randall regardless of whether Wisconsin is good or bad leads me to take the Badgers.

Finally, there’s the matter of Top 25 upstart Vanderbilt as a home underdog to traditional power Auburn, which can’t score. That has just about everyone going with Vandy here but there’s this problem for the Commodores: while Auburn’s offense has been horrendous to this point, the Tigers’ defense is better than solid. I don’t think Vanderbilt will score more than 14 or so. Pick: Auburn.

It’s all in someone else’s hands now.

Now, to another topic: Reader Dylan below asked about the weekly awards and if Eric Mangini is still doling them out. He is and I’ve been derelict in consistently announcing those. The winners from last Sunday’s game against the Cardinals: Offense: Brett Favre; Defense: Calvin Pace; Special Teams: Vernon Gholston ("Having four tackles was really a positive day for him," Mangini said Monday); Practice Player: C.J. Mosley. So there it is.

Also, some of you were talking about the current system of instant replay. Just for fun: the old system of replay was scrapped during the 1992 league meetings, after being in use from 1986-1991. And from nfl.com, “By a vote of 28-3, the owners adopted an instant replay system as an officiating aid for the 1999 season, March 17.” Yes, Ira, and others, you're right; the Vinny Testaverde play contributed to such a lopsided vote there.

Back tomorrow with pick ‘em Friday because, as I mentioned earlier this week, I still have to do this for the paper even though the Jets aren’t playing. And there’s some good college games, too. And by now, it's a habit. And by that I mean...

* Mangini schedule boxer Oscar De La Hoya to come speak to the team this afternoon.

"Always admired him," Mangini said.

* Mangini and his wife, Julie, are expecting their third child soon. In fact, the due date is Oct. 10 but Mangini thinks it could be any day, or any hour.

"Both kids have come early," he said. "Jake was six weeks, Luke was four weeks; I'm assuming this one can't wait, either."

* Besides their getaway plans, most of the discussion in the locker room revolved around the timing of the bye - it's early - and how well the Jets have played in recent years after the bye week. In 2006 the Jets were 6-2 post-bye and last year, after starting 1-8, went 3-4 after the bye. In 2006 the Jets returned from the bye to beat New England, 17-14, and last year it was a a 19-16 victory over the Steelers.

"The past couple of years we’ve gotten better after the bye," Rhodes said. "We’ve been pretty much lights out after the bye week on the defensive side of the ball. Hopefully we can do the same thing now."

Veterans Calvin Pace and Damien Woody said from a physical standpoint having the bye week later in the season is preferred but mentally there are advantages to having it now.

"Just from a personal level I’d like it to come a little bit later but it is what it is," said Woody, who is a good quote normally so I'll forgive him for it-is-what-it is. "I’m just looking forward to just getting away, getting away from football for a minute, coming back and getting ready for Cincinnati."

* Mike Westhoff, who rejoined the team the week before the season-opener in Miami, will be meeting with reporters sometime this afternoon.

Back, back, back...

P.S. Back, meaning tomorrow (Thursday) morning at 11 for Live Chat VII, conducted from the World's Most Famous Futon (trademark). Also, we'll be back here with blog items periodically, even though the airplane picture above seems to indicate I'm going somewhere. I'm not. Picks coming Friday (still have to do that for the paper anyway) and who knows what else the next few days might hold. And, as an aside to commenter CG, your comment below just became an instant classic in the office. Nicely done.