08/10 — Much of the Jets' locker room conversation after the preseason-opening 31-16 win over the Falcons was about Kellen Clemens, who joined Rick Mirer (vs. Minnesota, 1999) and Ray Lucas (vs. Giants in 2000) as the only Jets to throw for three touchdowns in a preseason game since 1992.

Eric Allen will have some Clemens quotes in his game story. Here are some quotes about Clemens after his eye-opening performance:

Chad Pennington: "Kellen works extremely hard. He watches everything I do, but at the same time he wants to be his own man. I think he understands what it's going to take to be a good quarterback in this league."

Sean Ryan: "I think Kellen's doing a really good job. He has a lot of confidence, everybody knows his arm strength and obviously he's got a good grasp of the offense."

Chansi Stuckey: "I can see him trying to take more of a leadership role when he's out on the field. He's trying to do the right things, working hard, making decisions and doing a great job of throwing the ball."

And Shaun Ellis for the defense: "Kellen was very encouraging. He looked real good compared to last year at this time. He's made tremendous improvement."

Ryan admitted he almost spiked the ball after his second touchdown reception. "It's a standing thing between me and Chris Baker," he said. "Last year I spiked one of his touchdown catches. After my first touchdown [tonight], he was joking that I didn't even spike my own TD. So after the second one, I faked it, then stopped and handed it to the ref."

DE Michael Haynes got his hand on the third-quarter pass by Atlanta QB D.J. Shockley that deflected into the hands of CB Drew Coleman. And Haynes reported, "It hurt!"

Haynes also had a fresh little spin on the importance of winning games even in the preseason. "It doesn't all of a sudden turn into the regular season," he said. "It's best to play every game like it really matters because that way you get that mentality. That's what Coach [Mangini] always does. He puts us in competition every practice. He reminds us, and it's an ongoing thing and it just becomes second nature — always compete, always try to win."