09/22 — There's a bit of a festive air to Qualcomm Stadium 45 minutes before the opening kickoff of tonight's Jets-Chargers game. The fans in the slowly filling blue-seated stands are cheering their 'Bolts and booing their opponents. When some of the Jets' specialists jogged out to catcalls, Leon Washington raised his hands in welcome.

But there is a Green & White contingent here. Two Joe Namath fans are sitting next to each other in the lower tier in green No. 12 jerseys and there are a number of green and white No. 4's ringing the field.

One mother had the right idea. She stood with her two sons outside the gate the team buses were turning into. One of her sons wore a No. 21 in blue, TOMLINSON on the back. The other younger child was wearing a green FAVRE jersey. All the bases were covered.

The storylines for this game have been given wide play. The Jets, other than Favre, haven't called this a must-win game but they all know that their feelings that they have a special team will get a boost with a road win on national TV and will take a hit with a second consecutive loss to a name opponent.

And the Chargers aren't calling this a must-win either, but if they're not desperate, they're certainly in the more dire straits — an 0-3 record is a hole that most NFL teams can't climb out of, except to catch planes for their favorite golfcourses and fishing holes at the end of the regular season.

Speaking of "special," this game has a special (teams) flavor for the visitors. As you know by now, Ben Graham has returned, less than a week after he was waived, due to the sore left thigh of new punter Reggie Hodges. Graham was spied ambling through the hallways underneath "the Q" wearing headphones and grooving to his comeback rhythm.

Graham did hit the ball well but not outrageously well during his punting warmups. One ball he hung up for a 4.6-second hang time, another he drove 50 yards. He knows what he has to do tonight if he wants to stay around.

So does Jay Feely, who gets a second game filling in for another sore-thighed kicker, Mike Nugent. Feely also was hitting his warmup field goals from as far out as 48 yards with ease in the beautiful San Diego early evening atmosphere: 70 degrees now, falling to a frigid 62 in gentle breezes off the Pacific Ocean.

The Jets are wearing their white jerseys and white pants. That hasn't been a winning combination recently, since the Jets have lost their last five in double whites. But there is a good omen connected with that combination: The last time the Jets won in whites was their last Monday night ESPN game, Christmas night of 2006 at Miami when they beat back the Dolphins, 13-10.

The Jets inactives for this game are Nugent, Hodges, QB Erik Ainge, WR David Clowney, CB-KR Justin Miller, OL Robert Turner and DL Kareem Brown, with Brett Ratliff designated as the third QB.

No surprises among the Chargers' IAs: CB DeJuan Tribble, LB Anthony Waters, C Nick Hardwick, G Kynan Forney, T Corey Clark, TE Kris Wilson and DT Brandon McKinney, with Charlie Whitehurst listed as the third QB.

Peter Morelli is tonight's referee. He's been the ref at three Jets games, the last two fairly significant road wins: the 2004 Week 2 victory right here at Qualcomm over the Chargers, and the 2006 Week 9 upset of the Patriots at Gillette Stadium.

Eric Allen will post our game story as soon as he can after tonight's game, sometime between 11:30 p.m. and midnight EDT, barring overtime. I will have my usual first-half and second-half Radar entries and also will post my postgame locker room blog as soon as possible. But there is the possibility that, due to the logistics against cell-phone and Internet availability on airplanes traveling at altitudes of 35,000 feet, the blog may not be able to be posted until we land around Tuesday morning rush hour.

Are you ready for some football? It's now less than a half-hour away.