03/21 — They say you can't tell the players without a scorecard, and that's especially true of the Jets players who left the locker room today after concluding their first week of off-season strength and conditioning work together. It's never too early to begin to familiarize oneself with the uniform numbers that will be showing up in the photos and videos from minicamps, OTAs and training camp in the coming months.

The biggest Green & White number talk is on the offensive line. Alan Faneca had been 66 in his 10 Steelers seasons, but Will Montgomery wore that number for the Jets last season. Word is the two have struck a deal. Faneca will again wear 66, and Montgomery will shift to 68, the number made famous here by C Kevin Mawae and made available when RT Anthony Clement was released earlier this month.

Damien Woody was in search of some new figures on his jersey. He had worn 65 in his nine pro seasons with New England and Detroit, but right guard Brandon Moore has worn that number in his five Jets seasons, so Woody has leapfrogged past Moore and Faneca and claimed No. 67.

OLB Calvin Pace, who wore 97 with the Arizona Cardinals, will keep wearing it with the Jets. TE Bubba Franks, 88 as a Packer, will be the piano man here as well.

RB Jesse Chatman, who's always been a twentysomething as an NFL player (he's 28 years old and wore 24 as a Charger and 28 as a Dolphin), will continue that decade-long tradition as 22 with the Jets, taking over the number vacated by new No. 21 Justin Miller.

In the secondary, Artrell Hawkins, who was 27 with the Bengals and Panthers and 25 as a Patriot, averages out the two numbers in grabbing 26, which opened up with Erik Coleman's move to the Falcons, while Andre Woolfolk, who was 26 with the Titans, steps up to No. 38 here.

Real New Yorkers, Mate

Ben Graham stopped by to talk for a few minutes after his workout this morning. I'll be doing a piece to kick off the week after Easter on how Graham and new special teams coach Kevin O'Dea are hitting it off, but I'll tease that story now with just a little bit of Ben and his family sinking their roots further in America.

As many Jets fans know, Ben, a top Australian-rules footballer, and his wife, Katie, and daughters Sophie and Rosie arrived from Down Under in 2005 as he began a new career as an NFL punter. But the family dynamic changed with the birth of the Grahams' first son late last season.

"Jack Benjamin's 4½ months old," Graham said proudly. "He was born here in the States, so he's our anchor now. Our last off-season [after the 2006 season], we went back to Australia for two months. This off-season, with Jack being so young and the girls in school, I only went home, for my brother's wedding, for a week."

The Grahams have lived on Long Island since Ben took over the Jets' punting chores in '05, and they (as all Jets players and their families are doing) are now exploring homes in the Garden State in advance of the opening of the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center in Florham Park, N.J.

The house-hunting in the metropolitan area, combined with little Jack's passport showing up in the mailbox last week, are sending an unmistakable message.

"While we're still Australian," Ben said, "we're becoming more and more embedded in this country and society."

We're happy you're here, Grahams, and we're looking forward to Ben punting lights-out in 2008. More on that Monday.