09/27 — When Chad Pennington returned under center against Miami, his killer hard count returned with him.

Pennington, who drew two presnap penalties against the Patriots in the opener, got four more on the Dolphins on Sunday. Three of the flags were thrown on Jason Taylor, who in his 14 previous games combined vs. the Jets since 2000 had been called for only two presnap penalties.

One of those Taylor infractions was due to another weapon in Chad and the offense's arsenal, the hurry-up snap, so let's say it's five hard-count twitches by opponents already this season.

That puts Pennington ahead of last year's prodigious pace, when he coaxed opponents into 17 presnap errors (offside, encroachment, neutral-zone infraction) for 82 yards, plus eight more offside calls that were declined or offset. That's 25 flags in all.

Nick Mangold said it's not as hard for the Jets' own O-linemen to fall for Pennington's cadences, although it's not easy.

"Chad is really good at it," the center said today. "Luckily, we've been with him for quite some time, so we have an understanding of what he's going to do. I don't think it affects us as much."

"It takes a lot of discipline from the offensive group because Chad varies the cadence so much," head coach Eric Mangini said. "The edge you'll always have offensively is, one, knowing where you are going, and two, knowing when the play is starting. Chad does a nice job of mixing in quick counts and, by varying those up it, puts a lot pressure on the defensive line."

The hard count will be tested Sunday by Buffalo's deafening — and at 0-3, likely angry — fan base at Ralph Wilson Stadium.

"I actually have to work on voice inflection and make sure they can hear me and bring out some of the bass in my voice, if I have any," Pennington said with a smile. "It's a big challenge. When you face a good pass-rush team, I think that's one of their advantages of playing at home, that the crowd eliminates some of the snap counts and cadences you can use to your advantage."

All true, and yet keep in mind that in Game 3 last year at "the Ralph," DE Aaron Schobel lined up in the neutral zone in the second quarter and rookie DT John McCargo jumped offside in the fourth. Something tells me Mr. Bass Man will have a vocal impact on the game.

More on the Perils of 0-3

Fans might be wildly heartened by the Jets' track record against opponents that have lost their first three games. Over their 48-season history, the Jets' record against those 0-3 teams is 10-2. Factor out the three games the Jets were also winless, and that record is 8-1. In fact, they've won their last eight such games.

But it's the first one, the only one they lost, that holds the kernel of a lesson. The year was 1968, and the Jets, en route to their Super Bowl triumph, were en route to Buffalo's War Memorial Coliseum — a.k.a. "the Rockpile" — with a 2-1 record. The Bills were 0-3.

And Buffalo came out the winner that day, Sept. 29, 1968, by 37-35 and it wasn't that close. The Bills had opened a 37-21 lead in the fourth quarter, fashioned on three INT-return touchdowns, by Tom Janik, Butch Byrd and Booker Edgerson. Joe Namath's two late TD passes, his third and fourth of the day, weren't enough to pull that one out.

Even the three games the Jets won over the years against 0-3 Bills teams (all coincidentally were played at Buffalo) were close, hard-fought affairs. Here are the four games:

Trent Trends

The Jets have made references this week to having to go back to the preseason videotape to get some tendencies on rookie QB Trent Edwards, who replaced injured J.P. Losman against the Patriots for almost all of last week's game and will start vs. Green & White. In case you forgot, Edwards (who, remember, was going up against other teams' second defensive units with the Bills' second offense) had an impressive summer.

The Stanford product played in all four preseason games and completed 46 of 61 passes — an uncanny 75.4 percent accuracy — for 432 yards, a 10-yard TD pass to Roscoe Parrish and no interceptions. That figures out to a gaudy 99.9 passer rating.