Never mind that Cincinnati actually is 0-5 and off to its worst start since the 2002 squad went 0-7 en route to a 2-14 campaign.

"Looking at the Bengals," Mangini said, "it's pretty easy to see all the positive things that they do. They've lost to teams that have a combined record of 16-6. They scored the most points anybody has against the Giants, put them into overtime and played tough against Dallas in a tough situation. (Against Dallas) they got behind early, fought back (and) had a chance to come back and take the lead.

"I think that you see that throughout the course of all their games," Mangini added. "Their finish (to games) hasn't necessarily gone the way that I'm sure they want it to go, but I see so many positive things on tape."

But to be fair, the Bengals do have a lot of talent for an 0-5 team, including wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh, second in the AFC in receptions with 31, and fellow wideout Chad Ocho Cinco (Johnson), although he hasn't been quite as productive since his name change.

"I don't think about it," strong safety Kerry Rhodes said of the Bengals' winless record. "Once you're on the field, you're both 0-0 because you haven't played each other. You get on the field and every team in this league has a chance to win and it's pretty evident, this year especially."

Wideout Laveranues Coles said he recently talked to running back Brandon Jacobs of the Giants, who outlasted the Bengals in overtime last month. When Coles told Jacobs the Jets were about to play Cincinnati, "the first thing (Jacobs) said was, 'Don't sleep on them. They're a good football team.' And when you watch the film (you see) a couple plays here and there and they could be 5-0. That's one scary thing about playing Cincinnati."

This is only the first game of what looks to be an easy October on paper for the Jets, who will visit Oakland (1-3) and host Kansas City (1-4) to close out the month before opening November with a key divisional game at Buffalo.

So it isn't overly optimistic to believe the Jets easily could be 5-2 heading into that Nov. 2 game with Buffalo, which currently leads the AFC East by a half-game.

But the Jets must -- all together now -- take it one game at a time.

"No, I haven't studied (the schedule)," Rhodes said, "but I know exactly what you're talking about. We've got one game coming up against a team that's 0-5 (and) the next two teams haven't won a lot. So I'm sure from the outside looking in, (people) will start trying to look past (these games)."

The Jets can't afford to do that, even though the talented Bengals can't seem to get out of their own way. And there doesn't seem to be a major sense of urgency to turn things around, as coach Marvin Lewis' job still is believed to be safe.

And even though Oakland (1-3) no longer seems to have its famed "commitment to excellence," in the wake of Al Davis' firing of coach Lane Kiffin and his attempt to explain it with a presentation on an overhead projector. (What's next, filmstrips? The Raiders had better update their audio/visual room.)

And then there are the Chiefs (1-4), who, under former Jets coach Herm Edwards, are in a major rebuilding mode.

But despite all of this, Rhodes doesn't expect even the younger Jets to be caught looking ahead.

He said there would be a chance of that "if we were 4-0, maybe then. But we just came off of a win (before the bye). We were 1-2. We could've been 1-3. To put things in perspective, we're an average team right now."

Rhodes is correct. And to be better than average, the Jets must take care of business this month.

SERIES HISTORY: 19th meeting. Jets lead series, 12-7. In the last meeting, Kenny Watson had a career-high 130 yards on 31 carries in Cincinnati's 38-31 victory last Oct. 21 at Paul Brown Stadium. Laveranues Coles led the Jets with eight receptions for 133 yards and two touchdowns, both from Chad Pennington. The current Miami starting QB had three TD passes that day, but also threw one pick on a sideline route, and it was returned 42 yards for the clinching TD by cornerback Johnathan Joseph. The Jets had won the last five games in the series prior to that, including a 31-24 victory in the 2004 season opener. Carson Palmer made his first NFL start in that game and threw for 248 yards and two touchdowns with one interception.