09/28 — The weather forecast for today's Jets-Cardinals game is all over the lot: mixed clouds and sun with scattered thunderstorms. When I walked into the Meadowlands at 10 a.m., it was overcast. Shortly after, steady rain began and continues to fall now, just about an hour away from the 1 p.m. EDT opening kickoff.

The rain is streaking the window in front of my prime location high up from the 45-yard line on the west side of the field. In front of me, a hearty ladybug is doing some nice broken-pane running over and around the drops.

My good friend Greg Bishop of The New York Times suggests I could change the name of this feature to Randy's Doppler Radar for the day in acknowledgement of the weather.

The early arrivers in the stands are sporting a rainbow coalition of raingear — either green or yellow or white or clear. There are also a few cheesecakeheads taking it all in.

Brett Favre, the inspiration for those hybrid hats, was out on the field, soft-tossing and looking fine despite his sore ankle. In fact, it doesn't appear that his ankle is particularly heavily wrapped and consecutive start No. 257 appears to be a sure thing.

And now the Jets are going through their stretching and NT Kris Jenkins is on the back line of the team's stretching array, limbering up his sore back and also looking OK.

But of course it's not my back or ankle so we'll see how the centerpieces of their respective units are looking in the soggy conditions once the game gets under way.

We've mentioned this before but the Jets will be playing today's game in their navy-and-gold Titans throwback uniforms. I like the look but the one thing I'm not thrilled with is the dark gold of the numbers on the navy jerseys. Makes identifying players both live during the game and on the DVD during the week a sometimes difficult endeavor.

Among the first arrivals on the field, kicker Jay Feely, who will kick for the third game for sore-thighed Mike Nugent. On his first field goal tries, Feely has enough leg but misses wide left from 53 yards out, but then he goes down the middle from 48 and 43 as he works his way toward the east end zone posts.

The one flipcard change for the game is the addition DB Hank Poteat, just re-signed Thursday and now wearing No. 23, and the deletion of OL Will Montgomery. Poteat obviously had no problem picking up where he left off during training camp and has a role in today's game because he's active

Those who have been deactivated for the Jets are Nugent, P Reggie Hodges, QB Erik Ainge, WR David Clowney, CB-KR Justin Miller, LB Marques Murrell and DL Kareem Brown. Brett Ratliff again is listed as the third quarterback.

The Cardinals' IAs: SS Adrian Wilson, RB J.J. Arrington, T Brandon Keith, WR Early Doucet, TE Jerame Tuman, DE Bertrand Berry and DT Gabe Watson. Brian St. Pierre is the third QB.

Wilson, Tuman, Berry and Watson were all Arizona injury report players. Berry was declared out Thursday, and losing their leading sacker is a tough loss for the Cards, they have great depth on the line. Travis LaBoy will move in as the RDE starter

Scott Green is today's referee. This is Green's seventh Jets game since his first, the win over Seattle at the Meadowlands in Game 14 of 2004. The Jets are 3-3 in those first six games, the most recent (not including this preseason's Washington game) was the surprising 19-16 overtime win over Pittsburgh here last season.

And the FOX-TV crew will be Dick Stockton and Brian Baldinger. Stockton has called the occasional Jets game for the NFC's network since the Eighties. But for Baldinger, the New York native and one-time Jets fan, this is only his second Jets game as a FOX analyst. The first was the 2003 game won by the Giants, 31-28, in overtime.

The sky is lightening some and the rain seems to have slowed. Perhaps we'll have semidry conditions when the game begins in about a half-hour.