Vinny Getting The Call By Randy Lange NorthJersey.com 10/6/05 HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. - Vinny Testaverde being named as Jets starting quarterback against Tampa Bay on Sunday is many things to many people. To Curtis Martin, it's a potential jump-start to the clicking solenoid that is the Jets' offense and season. "We need a spark, we need it," Martin said. Tight end Chris Baker looked at it as a constant. "I was in second grade when Vinny started playing in the NFL," Baker said. "You know he's seen everything you can throw at him." Testaverde himself describes the developments as "a little mind-boggling." Herm Edwards' decision, forged Monday night at the big offensive coaches' huddle and revealed to all Wednesday, also had an air of inevitability, given the signing of Testaverde nine days ago and Brooks Bollinger's spotty performance at Baltimore. Was this move predestined, Bollinger was asked. "That's a tough question," he said. Regardless of how much it sounds like a bad TV movie, Testaverde got the nod, if not the exact words, when he came to the complex Tuesday. "I was here watching film and Coach Edwards came by and said to be ready Sunday," he said. "I took that as, hey, I'm going to play. Then today everyone was talking to me as if I was going to start. Again, I just assumed." Wednesday, Testaverde put on a new white practice uniform with his old No. 16 and his helmet from the last time he was a Jet in 2003 - the team never got rid of it, just stored it in the basement of the complex for the next time he came around. Then he went out to practice and threw high cheese to the receivers who are seeking new tricks from this old dog, about to become the fourth-oldest QB to start an NFL game. "He threw his first pass to me today and my chest still hurts - I'm not joking," Baker said. "We need a change as far as making some plays in the passing game," Edwards said. "Brooks did a good job for us ... at the end of the day, when you're 4-for-16 to [wide] receivers, can't make any plays passing the ball, it's tough. "I think Vinny gives us a chance maybe to make some plays. He's come off the sideline before and played. For the best interest of the team at this point, we made the change." As Edwards said before Bollinger's first (only?) pro start, it's great theater but then the reality of the situation sets in. We don't know yet the reality of Testaverde's first start for the Jets since Philadelphia in '03, but there's a good chance it will be as ugly as a second Bollinger start might have been. After no NFL practices since December with Dallas, Testaverde will have had six practices to try to execute even a sliver of his new system. While in very good physical condition as always, he acknowledges he's not in football shape and is concerned about the speed of the game. Not to mention the speed at which the Buccaneers are playing (they are ranked first in overall defense and against the run, third against the pass and in points allowed). Here's how defensive end Simeon Rice lyrically put Testaverde's quest: "I'm sure he's happy. He wants this challenge. Who wouldn't? This is a resurrection. I'm sure he's dreaming big. I'm sure he threw 10 touchdowns in his dreams. There's a certain reality you have to face. When you go out and have to accomplish it, sometimes the reality changes a dream to a nightmare. It's on us to make our dreams come true. "These dreams are going to collide at some point." Testaverde was asked if starting again for his boyhood team against the team that drafted him in 1987 had the feel of a Hollywood script. "It depends on the outcome," he said, showing he's read that page of his new playbook. "If it happens the way we want it to, then yes, it will be a good story. But if it goes the way it's been going, nobody's going to care."