08/23 — The pregame festivities for the 40th annual Jets-Giants preseason game are under way at the Meadowlands.

Which is not to say there's a buzz in the stadium. The greeting for Brett Favre this week as he jogged out with the Jets' other QBs was muted from the fans scattered around the stands, rather than congregating over the West end zone tunnel.

Favre goes through uneventful warmup throws, tossing to Chansi Stuckey and Jerricho Cotchery, who then flip the ball to Kellen Clemens or Brett Ratliff, who then throw it back to Favre's "designated catcher" in a careful ritual enacted before every NFL game to protect the QB's hands from accidental trauma.

Favre is set to start his second game as the Jets' QB. Head coach Eric Mangini didn't announce how long No. 4 will go tonight, but he'll go for the first half and then the suspense will build once the teams come out for the second half to see if the Jets and Giants will keep their "ones" in the game for another series or two before they retire for the evening.

With Eli Manning getting the start for the Giants, it will be a matchup of former Super Bowl-winning QBs. Favre's victory, of course, was a while ago — Super Bowl XXXI, in which the Packers defeated Bill Parcells' Patriots — while Manning's came 6½ months ago.

And for those who keep track of such things, the 40th anniversary of the defending Super Bowl III-champion Jets' 37-14 romp over the Giants at the Yale Bowl on Aug. 17, 1969, is also a chance for the Jets to even the all-time record between the stadium co-tenants.

In the preseason, the Jets' record in the series is 20-18-1. In the regular season it's Giants, 7-4. A win tonight would even the all-time ledger at 25-25-1.

By this time all the Jets in their green jerseys and white pants have left the field after their stretching, then breaking up into their positions for pregame drills. Not in uniform are DE Shaun Ellis, who had started in the last 10 pre- and regular-season Jets-Giants games, and WRs Laveranues Coles and David Clowney, all of whom are working through injuries.

Elis was in his T-shirt and shorts running with the D-linemen. Coles wasn't on the field for the warmups but has walked out in streetclothes ahead of the Jets' pregame introductions to be on the sidelines as he was last week for the preseason home opener vs. Washington.

It's a late-arriving crowd as always, although the stands are filling rapidly. And it's a great night for a third preseason game — 74 degrees, cotton swabs of clouds floating overhead, the setting sun still high enough to illuminate the northeastern upper tier and mezzanine levels. Soon the Green & White and Big Blue will be kicking it off one more time.