As for the suspension and fine, Mangini said, "It's really a league decision. I definitely support the commissioner's initiative to protect the players and to do everything possible to promote player safety. But I'll just reiterate that Eric Smith is a good player, he's a good person, and he'd never do anything intentionally to harm somebody else."

Mangini indicated the Jets do take potential concussion quite seriously.

"We have a whole series of tests," he said, "that a player goes through. We do some tests in the offseason, obviously when there is no injury. That sets a baseline. Then we'll do the same test (after) any type of injury like this to see where you compare to the baseline."

Boldin has a fractured sinus membrane.

--Punter Ben Graham, who was waived Sept. 16 by the Jets after a disappointing performance against New England, was re-signed five days later and then cut again Monday.

"There's a lack of consistency that Ben had that was very difficult to deal with," special teams coach Mike Westhoff said, "and when it kept up, we felt we needed to do something. He was just line-driving the ball and our coverage had actually been very, very good under those circumstances, but we couldn't keep doing that, so we decided to make a change."

--The Jets practiced in their blue New York Titans helmets, and will again wear those throwback uniforms against the Bengals on Oct. 12. Perhaps they want to keep the momentum going from their 56-35 win over Arizona, accomplished in those uniforms and helmets.

--Coach Eric Mangini's wife, Julie, is expecting their third child on Oct. 10, two days before their next game. But the coach thinks the baby boy may come a little earlier than that.

"Both kids have come early," he said, referring to the couple's two sons. "Jake was six weeks and Luke four weeks -- I'm assuming this one can't wait either. Seems like he's pushing to get out."

Jake and Luke share the same birthday, Feb. 26, obviously during the offseason, which is why Eric wouldn't mind if their third son arrived during the bye week.

Mangini praised Julie's control of the situation.

"She's very good about handling pretty much everything in our lives," he said. "I don't know how she does it. She's a lot busier than I am."

--LB Eric Barton wore a Mets cap Wednesday, despite the Mets being eliminated from playoff contention on the final day of the season.

"If you're a fan, you've got to be a fan," Barton said.

--Favre said he enjoys playing with his teammates, and the feeling obviously is mutual.

"I enjoy being here," the 18th-year veteran said. "It obviously is different (from Green Bay), but different in a good way. (It's) a good group of guys. The coaches have been great. I don't know where we go from here. I hope we continue to go up. But it's been fun.

"Everybody knows he's a great quarterback, a Hall of Fame quarterback," right tackle Damien Woody said. "He's an even better person, a guy that likes to keep everything lively and loose, and I feel like we're going to have a lot of fun this year. ... There was that adjustment period, but everybody is settled in. Brett is another guy on the team that we really enjoy and enjoy playing with. Now it's just time to roll."

BY THE NUMBERS: 256 -- Consecutive regular-season games which Brett Favre played before producing six TD passes in one contest. His previous high was five, done three times: Nov. 12, 1995 against Chicago; Sept. 21, 1997 against Minnesota and Sept. 27, 1998 at Carolina. The Packers won all three games.

QUOTE TO NOTE: "Joe Namath, it goes without saying how great he was not only for the league but for this organization. It just goes to show you how hard it is to do certain things. It's been that long since it was done. That's not a bad one to be ranked up there with. As sweet as it feels to do that, it would feel a lot better if we just continue to win." -- QB Brett Favre, on tying the Jets' record of six TD passes held by Hall of Famer Joe Namath.