Vinny Relishes His Final Drive By Rich Cimini New York Daily News Sports Writer 10/14/05 Herm Edwards turned his cap backward and joined the punt-returning drill yesterday in practice. Minutes later, he lined up at cornerback, his old position, and tried to cover Jerricho Cotchery in a passing drill. Players laughed, coaches grinned and Edwards looked like he was having a blast. Thanks, in large part, to a blast from the past. Vinny Testaverde's couch-to-comeback story has reenergized the Jets (2-3), who anguished for two weeks in quarterback hell. Suddenly, they're alive again, only one game behind the first-place Patriots as they prepare for Sunday's road game against the Bills (2-3). If the Jets win, it'll be full-blown Vinny mania. Testaverde, one month shy of his 42nd birthday, intends to savor the moment. This, he suspects, probably will be his last season - yet another sub-plot to a story that could turn into a Disney movie if the Jets keep winning. "If I was a betting man, I'd go with the odds and say I'll probably be watching from the living room again next year," Testaverde told the Daily News yesterday. "This would be good closure, coming back one last time to play for my hometown team. But, sometimes, when you think you're out, they pull you back in, as they say in 'The Godfather.'" Testaverde said he was close to retiring when the Jets called after the shoulder injuries to Chad Pennington and Jay Fiedler. Another six weeks of inactivity, he said, and that would've been enough to make him call it quits. He realizes this is the final hurrah, and he wants to squeeze everything out of the unexpected opportunity. "I promised myself that, if I came back, I wanted to enjoy my time left in the NFL," said Testaverde, who became the second-oldest quarterback in history to start and finish a victory. "In 19 years, I never really stopped to enjoy the process of playing football - the meetings, the game days. "Now it's different. I was sitting home on my couch, and I could've ended up watching the whole season from my living room," he continued. "Then I get an unexpected call, a chance to play for my childhood team again. And here I am. It's like it happened for a reason. I'm going to enjoy it and do my best to help this team win." Testaverde's steady if not spectacular performance against the Bucs provided hope for the Jets. He's a familiar face at the most important position. "It's important to know who your leader is going to be," Curtis Martin said. "When things are unstable (at quarterback), it makes your offense unstable. Now it feels like we have someone in there - Vinny - who's going to be there." Testaverde is dead serious about his job, but he also realizes there's a time for levity. His arrival has erased the gloom and doom. Now he gets teased about his age, making for light moments in the locker room. On Wednesday, Jonathan Vilma bought three cans of Rust-Oleum and put them on Testaverde's locker stool. "After Chad and Jay got hurt, the rest of the season looked bleak," Testaverde said. "I wanted to bring confidence back to the locker room. Beating the Bucs helped the cause. I don't want to keep bringing up 1998, but that was a close group that had a lot of fun. We had a great time. But we got it done on the field. We can do the same with this team." Edwards, who made the decision to re-sign Testaverde, acknowledged that last week's triumphant return was "a great story. A guy comes in from home, driving his kids to school, watching games on TV. You couldn't write a better story. Now the reality sets in. All that's gone." Perhaps. But at least the season isn't gone. The smile on Edwards' face told you that.