10/07 — Erik Coleman, as appeared inevitable after sitting out all three practices during the week, has been deactivated for the first time in his four-year career due to his concussion.

Besides announcing the deactivation, it was also announced that Eric Smith, as expected, will get the start alongside Kerry Rhodes in the deep middle against the Giants in today's game in the Meadowlands.

The stadium is sunny right now, less than an hour before kickoff, and actually fairly hot. The temperature is in the low eighties and each bench has a pair of huge fans, one on each end, trying to generate some cool breezes for the players not on the field.

I don't know about the Giants' training camp and conditioning program, but we all know how tough the Jets camp was. Let's see that conditioning kick in if today's action gets hot and heavy.

The rest of the Jets' inactive list is not surprising. It includes newly signed WR David Clowney, TE Joe Kowalewski, OL Will Montgomery, DE Mike DeVito, OL Jacob Bender and TE Jason Pociask. Marques Tuiasosopo is again the third QB.

The Giants' inactive list: WR Steve Smith, S Craig Dahl, RB Ahmad Bradshaw, T Adam Koets, DE Dave Tollefson, DT Manny Wright and G Kevin Boothe, with QB Jared Lorenzen designated the third QB.

The Jets are in their white jerseys and white pants for the fourth time this season. They are winless in all three previous double-whites games. In fact, the last time the Green & White won when they were all white was in another tough spot, on Christmas night at Miami last year.

Perhaps that magic can prevail again when the Jets come out of the familiar west end zone tunnel not to the cheers of green-clad Jets fans but to the boos and jeers and "things you wouldn't want your mother to hear," according to head coach Eric Mangini, of the predominantly blue crowd.

It marks the sixth time that the Jets are the road team in this series, the fourth time they're the road team in their own house. In the Jets' radio booth, Bob Wischusen just asked partner Marty Lyons how difficult a situation that can be, and Marty recalled the 1988 Jets' season finale here.

"We were 8-7-1, out of the playoffs, and it was rumored the coaching staff was going to be fired," Lyons recalled. "The Giants at that were 12-3 [actually 10-5] and fighting for the playoffs. Defensive coordinator Bud Carson gave us his pregame speech and he said very simply, 'We're going to be fired after this season. And if you guys don't play hard, I'm going to take a few of you with me.' "

The Jets went on to upset the Giants, 27-21. Maybe these 1-3 Jets have the same kind of effort in them to take on the 2-2, sack-happy Giants today. The 11th renewal of this infrequent rivalry between the Jets and the Giants is only a few minutes away. We'll check in again beginning in the first quarter.