11/28 — Brett Ratliff lives, even if it's as the embodiment, at the moment, of Kerry Collins and Jay Cutler.

"I just try to work hard. That's what I do every week," said Ratliff, who's been the Jets' non-playing third quarterback for all 11 games. "I'm working as hard as I can."

The work is being recognized. On Wednesday, head coach Eric Mangini named Ratty the Jets' practice player of the week. That meant he had to do a pretty good job of impersonating Collins, the Titans QB who was held without a touchdown drive until midway through the fourth quarter Sunday.

I checked in with Ratliff after today's final practice of the week for the Broncos and Cutler, just to say hello and to see what the secret was to his nifty week of prepping the first defense for the Titans.

"I had a couple of good days," he said. "It wasn't the best week, but I had probably one of the best days I've had so far this season, just with my throws, my completions."

He also admitted to having some fun moving around in the pocket, even though that has drawn barks of protest from defenders: "Collins doesn't do that."

"You try to give them a look, but you also try to be yourself, have your own identity," Ratliff said of his role as the QB Transformer. "I just try to have fun with it, and I give the defensive guys a hard time and it frustrates them. Especially Eric Barton's always razzing me. They want me to try to take it a little easy on them. It just makes me go harder."

Ratliff's elusiveness came in handy this week, since that's one tool in Cutler's skill set — "This is the one week the defense can't get mad at me."

The young QB's preseason heroics are now faded memories, but Ratliff's looking ahead anyway, and he feels Brett Favre, who joined the Jets in August, is helping him do that.

"It's crazy how much one guy can motivate and change the morale of the team," he said. "It's been a lot of fun. He'll give you his say on things, and he'll say more whenever you have a question. He'll take the time to talk to you about it. He's got a little bit of everything just because he's been around for so long."

Many players in similar positions chafe at the seeming lack of NFL career progress as they're making while toiling on the "look" team, but Ratliff exudes a sense that he's helping the Jets with their upward mobility this season.

"I'm just working hard," he said, "and I'm excited about what's to come."

The Injury Front

Mangini wasn't promising anything regarding his injured players — he never does — but he gave an upbeat progress report for LB David Harris (groin) and S Eric Smith (head) before today's practice.

"Both of them have participated substantially in practice," the coach said at today's morning news conference. "We'll have to see with David where he's going to be. Eric, I'll look at that and see where he is as well. They're two totally different injuries. I've been happy with what they've done, where they are. We'll see them today, talk to [senior director of athletic training] John Mellody and the doctors and the players and make a decision. They're both making big strides."

Both Harris and Smith were both listed as working limited at today's practice and as questionable for the Broncos on Sunday, according to today's final injury report of the week.