10/30 — Talk about jets. Marquice Cole was wearing them when he got last Sunday's game at Oakland off on the right foot with a big play on the opening kickoff.

"Drew Coleman made the tackle," Cole said. "But being able to cause that penalty put them in the hole. When a team has bad field position, which special teams can cause, you see what happens. It was a big play in the game, even though it was the first play of the game."

What Cole did was to fly downfield so quickly under Jay Feely's kickoff that the Raiders' Brandon Myers felt compelled to give him a shove in the back to keep him from tackling returner Jonathan Holland at the Oakland 10. But Coleman dropped him at the 20 and the penalty put the hosts at their 10 anyway. From there, Calvin Pace and Thomas Jones took over.

But just to make sure people didn't forget him, Cole promptly went down on the kickoff after Jones' touchdown 2:06 into the game and tackled Holland himself at the Oakland 19.

Cole is so correct about the field position game. The Raiders' average drive start of their 18.1-yard line, as we noted on Tuesday, was the second-worst by a Jets opponent in the past 20 seasons. In 18 games in that span the Jets have pinned their foes on average inside their 23 to start drives. They've won 15 of those games (.833 percentage).

And the 5'10", 190-pounder from Hazel Crest, Ill., and Northwestern U. seems genuinely to appreciate making contributions to the Jets' special forces, even as he awaits an opening at his defensive position of cornerback.

"We've got a lot of depth at defensive back," he said. "It's competitive, but everybody's willing to help everybody out. If you need help, you can go turn to one guy, the next guy. You've just got to take it as it comes. Special teams right now, kickoff is fun. We have a competition on the fast guys on the team. Everybody tries to get down and make the play first."

Those fast guys are Cole, Coleman, Ahmad Carroll and Danny Woodhead. In fact, those four had all six of the Jets' kick coverage tackles as tabulated by the Raiders' stat crew.

But Cole has to be careful because he's fast becoming another Rex Ryan favorite.

"Marquice? He's an ascending player," the Jets head coach said this week. "Dennis Thurman is doing a great job with him. He’s really teaching him how to play the position. This is a tough kid. He went to Northwestern, so he’s got brains. He’s got toughness. He’s doing a great job on special teams. Him and Drew Coleman — if there’s a faster pair in the league covering kicks, I’ll be shocked. Those guys fly down the field.

"I think he has a chance to be an outstanding corner. I don’t want to pump him up too much because you know how this league is ... he’s terrible. He’s just here because he’s from Northwestern and we’ve got a Big Ten rule."

Despite all the competition at corner and on specials — both of which got more crowded when Justin Miller returned this week to the team that drafted him in 2005 — Cole got in for a defensive play, in a seven-DB package on which he blitzed and put a lick on JaMarcus Russell at midfield. That forced an incompletion and an Oakland punt and was Russell's last play of the game. And it provided Cole with his first defensive "stat" of the season, albeit an unofficial one: a QB hit.

But as Cole says, "until something else happens," he'll continue to have fun trying to beat his fellow speed merchants down the field to get hits on opposing kick returners.

Miami Update, 6:30 p.m.: The Dolphins today official declared LB Channing Crowder (shoulder) out of Sunday's game. Crowder, who did not participate in practice all week, didn't make the trip with the Dolphins to North Jersey. The Miami Herald has reported that former Giants LB Reggie Torbor is expected to start at Crowder's ILB spot.

Also, Miami has activated LB Matt Roth (groin) from its Reserve/Non-Football Injury list and waived John Nalbone, the rookie TE from Monmouth.

*Special Teams Saturday