06/07 — Since the Jets' beatwriters hadn't seen Eric Mangini since his tour de force performance in "The Sopranos," they positioned several magenta bath towels — standing in for a Hollywood red carpet — from the doorway of the media room to Mangini's podium for today's news conference.

"Pacino and I, we're very similar actors," Mangini said. Asked later about which role was bigger for him, last Sunday night's restaurant scene with Tony Soprano or last year's Sesame Street appearance, the coach diplomatically replied, "They're like your children. They're all special in their own way."

As for football-related matters, Mangini announced that LB Jonathan Vilma would not be at today's OTA practice, for a very good reason: "His sister is getting her MBA from Harvard," and he's attending the graduation.

On a Pete Kendall exchange, Mangini had two one-line answers.

Have you talked to your veteran guard, who's missed much of the off-season program and all the OTA sessions?

"I have not talked to Pete."

Do you anticipate him participating at next week's full-squad minicamp?

"I expect everybody to be here for that camp."

A few player snapshots from the coach. On backup QB Kellen Clemens during the OTAs, Mangini said: "Kellen's done some good things — his reads down the field, his huddle presence."

David Bowens, although listed as a DE, "has gotten quite a few reps outside. He's got some flexibility to play outside and to play down in the sub package."

Kenyon Coleman is a down end, but he, too, worked in nickel and dime fronts with Dallas, "and we'll definitely give him some opportunities there."

Seventh-round WR Chansi Stuckey has shown himself to be very good in his short-area quickness, which helped him make an impressive catch in a recent practice that Mangini detailed:

"He made a double move going over the middle. He made a head fake, making the DB bite, and then he made a solid catch on top of that of a pass that was a little high."

Mangini revisited the extreme-elements part of his coaching when he recalled Monday's OTA, which was conducted, you may remember, in a cold, driving rain.

"That made the football hard to handle. It was an added distraction," the coach said. "We can't simulate extra heat and cold, although we definitely try to do it with the noise. You could see that translate in the games we had at New England and Miami. We had success there."

Words worth remembering, considering that Friday's forecast is for heat into the 90s. For today's OTA, it's in the mid-70s and sunny. I'll report back a few more times today on what's happening.