It’s a Snap at 41, Not at 21

Not unpredictably, Alex Smith’s first career start Sunday was a dud of monumental proportions, but what can you say about Vinny Testaverde’s first post-career start?

From the retirement sofa to the New York Jets’ bench to a 14-12 victory over the previously undefeated Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Testaverde covered more ground these last two weeks than Cadillac Williams, which is where the Buccaneers’ troubles initially began.

With Williams sidelined because of foot and hamstring injuries -- do you suppose 88 carries in Tampa Bay’s first three victories had anything to do with that? -- the Buccaneers were forced to turn their trip to the Meadowlands into, ahem, a shootout between Brian Griese and Testaverde.

Which explains the halftime score: Buccaneers 9, Jets 7.

Griese had some rough moments during his years in Denver, but this has to rank as a personal low: He failed to drive Tampa Bay to anything more than a field goal and wound up losing to a retired guy.

Two Sundays ago, Testaverde was officially a 41-year-old couch potato who had no more and no less to do with the Jets’ lousy September than any other fan of the team. He watched from afar, he was distressed at what he was seeing, he was feeling fairly hopeless and helpless.

Unlike other Jet fans, however, Testaverde has Herman Edwards’ phone number.

When he saw Chad Pennington and Jay Fiedler go down with injuries in a Sept. 25 loss to Jacksonville, Testaverde gave the Jet coach a call to offer condolences and the obligatory is-there-anything-I-can-do-to-help?

What Edwards couldn’t have told him then: How about saving our season in a couple weeks?

Originally, the plan was for Testaverde to come in and do a little mentoring for Brooks Bollinger, thrust from third string into the starting lineup by circumstances no one in the Jets’ organization was prepared for, least of all Bollinger. Bollinger looked so overwhelmed in his first NFL start, a 13-3 loss to Baltimore, Edwards had to move to Plan D and scrap Project Mentor almost before it began.

Testaverde started against the Buccaneers, previously 4-0, and didn’t quite come in raining 40-yard darts all over Giants Stadium. His final stat line was modest -- 163 yards passing and no touchdowns while completing 13 of 19 passes -- but he had only one interception, avoided the game-crushing turnover and brilliantly completed two handoffs to Curtis Martin, good for touchdown runs of one and two yards, which was good enough for the Jets’ second victory of the season.

Jet fans, who had all seen Bollinger against the Ravens, were so appreciative of Testaverde’s efforts that they accorded him a standing ovation.

Testaverde told reporters that the ovation gave him chills and goose bumps and he wished he “could express how I felt.” So Testaverde had the chills, and his skin looked a little funny, and he was having trouble verbalizing his thoughts. What do you expect from an old-timer suddenly roused out of retirement?

Smith, the San Francisco 49ers’ No. 1 draft choice, is half Testaverde’s age -- and forced into difficult circumstances beyond his doing.

Last week’s pitiful defeat to Arizona in Mexico City was the last straw for 49er Coach Mike Nolan, who benched Tim Rattay and replaced him with Smith, who drew as opponents in his first NFL start the undefeated Indianapolis Colts.

That Indianapolis won, 28-3, is no surprise. It could have been, and should have been, worse, but Peyton Manning was off his game, passing for only 255 yards and a solitary touchdown. The 49ers figured to lose, but they didn’t figure Smith would have four interceptions while completing nine of 23 passes for 74 yards. Delete sack yardage and the Colts outpassed the 49ers, 245-44.

By day’s end, Indianapolis was 5-0 ... and the league’s lone unbeaten team.

In Week 5, three previously undefeated teams stumbled by a combined seven points. Along with Tampa Bay’s two-point loss to the Jets, Washington lost to Denver, 21-19, and Cincinnati lost at Jacksonville in the night game, 23-20.

The Bengals’ good opening month made for a happy diversionary story -- imagine, the Bengals actually broke into power-ranking top-fives all over the Internet -- but you knew it couldn’t last forever. It couldn’t even last till Columbus Day.

But let us not dwell on the negatives. Cincinnati’s loss to Jacksonville did have its bright side: Maybe now Chad Johnson will shut up for a week.

The Washington-Denver game was played in frigid, rainy conditions that apparently affected only one passing offense. The Broncos’ passing total was your typical bad-weather number, 92 yards. So why then were the Redskins able to throw for 322 yards?

A better question to answer: How did the Broncos get out-passed, 322 yards to 92, and still win the game?

They seemed bound for overtime when Washington’s Mark Brunell connected with Chris Cooley on an 11-yard scoring pass play late in the fourth quarter. The Redskins went for the two-point conversion to tie, but Bronco linebacker Ian Gold got a hand on Brunell’s pass, batted it away and Denver somehow staggered off the field a 4-1 team.

Last season’s Super Bowl contestants update: New England and Philadelphia both went on the road to face opponents with mobility-challenged quarterbacks. Atlanta had to sit Michael Vick because of a strained knee ligament and couldn’t overcome deficits of 14 and 15 points, losing to the Patriots, 31-28. Meanwhile, in Dallas, the Cowboys were forced to stick with Drew Bledsoe and wound up dancing all over the Eagles, 33-10.

New England won because Tom Brady completed 22 of 27 passes for 350 yards and three touchdowns.

Philadelphia lost because Bledsoe passed for 289 yards and three touchdowns, which were three more than the Eagles’ Donovan McNabb managed in a 13-for-26, 131-yard, four-sack performance.

After five games, the reigning AFC and NFC champions are both 3-2. But today, only the Patriots will enjoy reading in the newspaper how they got there.