10/26 — A long weekend of celebration and reminiscence come to a close today with the ceremonies to honor the Jets' Super Bowl III players in the 40th anniversary season of their historic 16-7 win over the Baltimore Colts.

And following Saturday night's dinner at the Hyatt in New York and before today's festivities, a half-dozen of the 1968 Jets, led by their leader, Joe Namath, gathered in an opening behind the West pressbox to chat one more time with reporters and pose again for photographers.

"We're happy to be here," said Namath, his big voice still booming above the din of a stadium preparing to host the 2008 Jets' seventh game of the season.

"Thank you for coming out to see us," said Randy Beverly, the two-interception defensive star of that game long ago that was played just yesterday.

All the players — wideout Don Maynard, tackle Winston Hill, DB Larry Grantham and PR director Frank Ramos along with Broadway Joe and Beverly — fielded questions about how it feels to look back on such a great moment in team annals, a glory moment from pro football's past, and yes, even a slice of greatness in United States history.

"I didn't know the significance of it at first. I thought it was just another big game," said Hill, leaning on his cane. "I think my oldest child is 10 years older than when I played in this game. That kind of brings everything into focus. ... We can do this every other week and we'll feel a lot better about it," he added.

A few of the ex-Jets fondly remembered the AFL title Game win over Oakland as sharing the stage with SB III.

"To me, the greatest game I ever played in and the guys ever played in was the AFL Championship," Maynard said.

"Black Hole?" We had 'em in a black hole," said Grantham.

But the Jets of 40 years ago aren't here today just for posting that hard-earned 27-23 win over the Raiders. Of course Namath was asked once more to relive "the guarantee" that he issued at the Miami Touchdown Club awards banquet before the Super Bowl.

"It was just something that I felt and said. It was my heart speaking, my feelings speaking. Coach [Weeb] Ewbank was the one who helped us all feel that way," Namath recalled of Ewbank, who died in 1998, who the next morning privately gave Namath a small earful about what he had done.

"Those guys were overconfident over there, and I gave them some fuel to get them fired up," Joe Willie recalled. "Our offensive linemen hated me for a while, they wanted to beat me up and choke me. The defensive guys weren't hard on me at all. It was all good-natured, though."

And what would Namath have done if his guarantee hadn't paid off?

"I know what I'd have done and that's go back out to work," he said. "Had we not done it, we all would've gone back out to work and tried to do it the next time."

But they didn't have to. As Grantham said, "We only scored 16 points ... but that's all we needed to get that ring."

It's the ring Grantham and all the others are wearing today. It comes from winning the game that, Namath said, "influences me in some way every day." And that's the victory that has brought all those players back 40 years later to be feted one last time at halftime of today's game.

Pregame Notes

There are a few familiar faces on both sides of the field for this game between the Jets and Chiefs. Former wearers of the Green & White, now in Kansas City white and red, are Adrian Jones, starting at RG; and Wade Smith, backing up all three interior O-line spots; S Jon McGraw, and former training camp TE John Paul Foschi.

In fact, McGraw, an ST ace for both teams, is seen chatting with LS James Dearth and inactive K Mike Nugent during warmups.

Among coaches on former Jets boss Herm Edwards' KC staff are Dick Curl (assistant head coach/quarterbacks), a.k.a. "Grandfather Clock" and "Father Time," Eric Price (wide receivers coach) and Nate Wainwright (manager of football operations). David Price and his assistant trainers with the Jets are now back here as members of the KC training staff.

And when Coach Herm comes out of the tunnel, he runs into the Jets doing their stretching and says hello to many of his former players and acquaintances. There's a handshake for Brett Favre, some banter with Eric Barton, and a man-hug for Kerry Rhodes.

Speaking of green and white, the Jets are sporting their green jerseys and white pants for today's game. This is the first time in that combination since the first two games of the season, the win at Miami and the loss to the Patriots at the Meadowlands. The Jets are 7-8 under head coach Eric Mangini while wearing green & white. The greens and whites and reds will be more vibrant than usual under today's cloudless blue skies and bright sun in the crisp 60-degree air.

The big news regarding the Jets inactive list is that Justin Miller is not on it. Miller, the DB/KR, has practiced full the last two weeks and is active for the first game this season. The Jets' inactives: Nugent, QB Erik Ainge, WR David Clowney, CB David Barrett, TE Bubba Franks, LB Marques Murrell and DL Kareem Brown. Brett Ratliff is the third quarterback.

For the Chiefs, inactives are P Dustin Colquitt, RB Larry Johnson, LB Erik Walden, G Brian de la Puente, T Barry Richardson, WR Jeff Webb and DT T.J. Jackson. Their third QB is Quinn Gray, just signed in the last week. Steve Weatherford will be punting for the visitors.

Today's referee is Peter Morelli, who is officiating his fifth Jets game. Morelli's crew also worked the Game 3 Monday night loss at San Diego.