08/28 — Rich Gentile returned to Cheesesteak City today.

"After spending 11 seasons there, always being a part of the home team, this'll be the first time I've ever been in Philadelphia as a part of the NFL with the visiting team," Gentile told me a few days ago. "I'm excited about it and also a little nervous about it."

In case you're wondering if this is an off-the-street free agent who's been flying under the league's radar for a while, no, Rich is the Jets' senior director of broadcasting and production. And for those aforementioned 11 seasons, he did a bang-up job with the Eagles' multimedia.

"We created in 1997 the Eagles Television Network, the in-house production arm of the team that would create preseason broadcasts, in-stadium content and regular-season television programming," Gentile ticked off. "We did radio shows as well, and we did a ton of non-broadcast, different things for events, sales tools, things that help out the football side, corporate sales, whatever."

He's moved on to the Jets this year, and if you find all this a yawn, well, that's understandable — unless you've seen and heard some of his and his staff's best work to date. That would be the pregame video of the Jets jump-cutting in with jets, clips players making plays alternating with clips of fighter pilots at work.

"It was really a fun process," Gentile said. "The idea was that if we have real live Jets in the stadium, well, what do jets do? They protect us, they go to battle, things are very safe when you've got jets around.

"We were able to do a live shoot in Egg Harbor, N.J., with the National Guard, the 177th Jersey Devils. They were amazing with us. We were able to get shots all day long — takeoffs, static shots, their crew helping us as extras, real pilots and mechanics in our shots.

"These are amazing people and machines getting ready to go to battle. And when our players are in the stadium, they're getting ready to go to battle. People can get excited about both."

Especially with the 120-decibel sound of jet fighters that the multimedia guys collected from their positions at both ends of the runway.

I knew of this new footage but because of our relatively sheltered existence in the Meadowlands pressbox, I really hadn't caught the full flavor of the piece. Gentile popped it up on his computer and cranked up the sound for a private viewing.

"I'm really happy with the way it turned out," he said. "It can really tune you up for the start of a game."

As for this game, I just saw Gentile in "the Linc" pressbox dining area, clapping old Eagles coworkers on the back and renewing acquaintances.

"Tonight we're there to shoot everything that goes on before, during and after the game for the Jets," he said. "We'll also be shooting pregame elements, getting that access that makes us unique and different from everybody else."

At home, it's the creation and implementation of the stadium show as well. Gentile and his staff's jet preview will rest for another two Sundays, but if you're on hand for the Sept. 14 home opener vs. the Patriots, pay attention when the jet engines start to whine.