09/01 — The Jets' latest punting derby is still running. Perhaps it will be decided Thursday night when the Jets play the Eagles. While the Green & White starters will play only a series, head coach Rex Ryan and special teams coordinator Mike Westhoff will be patiently waiting all game for a "starting" punter to jump out at them.

"We'll let them both punt," Ryan said this week, "and see what happens."

"Both" are Reggie Hodges and Glenn Pakulak. Pakulak, the fifth punter signed by the Jets this off-season/preseason, didn't kick against the Giants so this may well be a one-game audition for the long-time leg man from Pontiac, Mich.

"We know how it works," Pakulak told newyorkjets.com about this compacted competition. "We're just here trying to do the best we can do. That's all you really can do."

Pakulak thought for a minute late last year that his odyssey around the NFL (which has included stops with Seattle, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Oakland, Tennessee and New Orleans) had come to an end when he averaged 47.7 gross yards and 37.8 net over the Saints' final eight games (coincidentally replacing Ben Graham, who was in between gigs with the Jets and the Super Bowl-bound Cardinals).

But fifth-round pick Thomas Morstead got the nod this summer and Pakulak was sent packing on Aug. 17.

"I waited for so long for that opportunity, and I did good," he said. "Hey, I felt like I did what I needed to do. But everything happens for a reason."

Pakulak and Hodges have crossed paths a few times, when Glenn was a junior at Kentucky and Hodges a Ball State freshman, then again last year in the Oakland-Seattle preseason game.

"Reggie's a great guy," Pakulak said, "a very nice guy."

If this were a nicest-guy competition, Hodges and Pakulak might have to share the award. Both are friendly, religious fellows. But that's not how it works.

Hodges, last year's finishing Jets punter who was released and then was the third punter signed after Eric Wilbur was waived, could've scored an uncontested knockout vs. the Giants. In fact, three of his seven punts were outstanding — his first for a gross of 57 yards with Domenik Hixon being pulled down by Brad Smith at the Giants 10; No. 4, a 49-yarder fair-caught by Mario Manningham, and his sixth, another 49-yard gross swatted out of the end zone by Smith to be downed at the Giants 1.

The other four had the same combined net and gross, 33.8 yards. And so the search continues against the Birds.

In practice today, one of Pakulak's kicks was unofficially timed with a 5.3-second hangtime. Very promising, and not a time that any of the four preceding Jets punters flirted with. But we didn't see the newcomer repeat that kind of boomer, and that's a key for Ryan, who wants to see Ray Guy more often than "a guy" from his punter.

"I thought Reggie had a better day," Ryan said of the Giants game. "The left-footed punter [Pakulak], we’ll see how he does. He’ll get an opportunity this week."

Jenkins on Vick

NT Kris Jenkins probably won't get to put any hits on Philly backup QB Michael Vick, since Jenkins may get only one series and Vick isn't expected to start. But Big Jenk had a few general observations in today's locker room session about the Jets going up against the elusive former Falcon that Eric Allen has just passed on to me.

“I’m looking forward to playing against Vick for two reasons," he said. "When I was in Carolina, we had quite the rivalry when he was in Atlanta. There are still a lot of memories with that.

"But at the same time, it’s going to be good to see him on the field again. I guess I don’t have as hard a heart as most do. If our country has laws and those laws are meant to govern all of us and somebody does something and is punished by government and they have to serve their time, then I think that should be more than enough. As a nation, we should have faith in our system and what it’s about. I think he has his done his time, I think he paid his debt and I think, as a man, he should be able to have a second chance. I think that’s what this nation was built on."

“I’m kind of rooting for him," Jenkins said, "because I hope he does realize he has a second chance and I’m hoping he does prove everybody wrong. I’m hoping he shows everybody what he’s capable of, and I’ve seen him on and off the field and I definitely think he’s a good person. I think he’s going to do the right thing.”

If Vick lines up at wideout, that's a good thing for the 360-pound nose tackle.

"I think the DBs are a little bit more athletically equipped to keep up with him," Jenkins said. "It’s kind of a setup when you put him on the inside with all of these big guys and then you let us go catch him. I love to think I’m a great athlete, but it’s kind of hard to catch him. But it’s cool to see him in the fourth-preseason-game setting because I get to kind of relax and stretch out a little bit because I’ve never got to do that against him.”

“I hope I do get to see him a couple of plays, but I just don’t have to chase him the whole game. I’ve never shied away from the Vick challenge, but after that type of game you’re going to be in the hotel the rest of the night just to get all of the lactic acid out of you. That’s just the type of game it’s going to be.”

Rex Bites

Ryan was asked at today's news conference about Calvin Pace's summer.

"I hope to see him run down Michael Vick a couple of times," Rex said. "I think he's like a gazelle — he can fly. He's in great shape and he just keeps going. He's had a great camp. I think we've all seen that in the preseason games and throughout training camp. He's been a guy who really stands out for us. Unfortunately, we're not going to have him for four games, but when he comes back we expect him to be ready to go. I think he's got a plan in place to stay in shape, work on his timing and make sure there's not much dropoff when he comes back."

Ryan also bemoaned not making like Pat Riley protecting the rights to "Three-peat" in regard to a certain slogan that has come with him from Baltimore to New Jersey.

"We've always had that sense of pride in that room. That's what I'm trying do with this whole football team, having pride in each other and having pride in being a Jet. That's like having pride in playing like a Raven — I should've patented that bad boy. That was me. Play like a Raven, play like a Jet. That means something. It means we care about each other, you're going to get everything we've got. They're not doing it for selfish reasons. When you play us, you're not playing a bunch of individuals. You're playing a team."

And finally Ryan on Mark Sanchez, who wants to play a lot vs. the Eagles but didn't know if he'd play at all Thursday night: "He's going to play a lot in that first series. That's what I see him doing."