11/08 — Reggie Hodges was in the wilderness for a while — the wilderness of being an unemployed NFL punter, at least. But he was able to keep going at least in part because he wasn't alone.

"Arin, that's my wife. Thank goodness for her," Hodges told me Friday after his and the Jets special teamers' last practice for Sunday's battle against the Rams. "I'm glad I met her in college. We've been married almost two years. I play football, but I'm still a father, I'm still a husband."

And he takes her with him onto the field each Sunday, figuratively, of course. Perhaps you noticed a flash of metal on the TV screen when Hodges handled a snap from James Dearth the last four games. It's his platinum wedding band.

I mentioned that it's unusual to see NFL players wearing jewelry.

"I don't look at it like that," he said with a smile. "It's not jewelry. It's a covenant between me and my wife."

The ring is also protects a secret. He lifted it from just above the knuckle of his ring finger to show a small tattoo of four letters: "ARIN."

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Hodges flashed again against the Bills at Buffalo, earning head coach Eric Mangini's special teams player of the game award. His most noticeable work was his deft handling of Dearth's high snap to position Jay Feely's final, important 31-yard field goal with 2:12 to play to open the Jets' lead to nine points.

While the snap was slightly off-line for the reliable Dearth, it was hardly wild. Hodges didn't have to even lift his right knee from the ground to snag it and he said there was never even a split-second of doubt about the operation.

"It wasn't a bad snap. It was high, but it was still a tight spiral," Hodges said. "It wasn't left to right. It was right over the spot I just had to catch it and put it down for Jay."

He had only one punt all day, but even that one was a nice piece of work as he got the first-quarter kick off a split-second ahead of heavy Bills pressure with a decent 4.3-second hangtime that forced the dangerous Roscoe Parrish to signal for a fair catch at his 15.

"Since he’s had his opportunity to punt, he’s done a nice job with his hangtime," Mangini said Friday. "The distance gets better each week. He has the potential to get some long ones off. He has the combination of hangtime and distance and that type of leg strength. And his role as a holder has been very good."

We all wish Ben Graham well now that he's kicking for the Saints. Some key numbers are down since Graham was released after the Arizona game, but other numbers are up, and in fact Hodges' kicking for this short period is better than it's been for him in his only NFL regular-season experience in 2005 and in training camps the past four summers (hangtime is unofficial):

Wallace Wright is also very hot as a Jets special teamer these days — so hot that I spoke with him alone Friday, will speak with him again after the Rams game and will feature him in a story early next week before the Jets take the short hop up to Providence, then to Foxboro, to play the Patriots on Thursday night.