Good As It Gets By Steve Serby New York Post 10/10/05 There is no better place to be a sports hero than New York, no better feeling for a New York son to have a town stand and cheer for him and leave his body with goosebumps, and then salute him at the end of Jets 14, Bucs 12. Good for Good Old Vinny. And so, as Vinny Testaverde carried his 31/2-year-old daughter Madeleine in his arms out of Giants Stadium last evening, along with a Jet season renewed with hope, he smiled and said: "What a great welcome home, boy, I'll tell ya." His son Vincent, clad in his dad's old purple 12 Ravens jersey, was running around in the parking lot. His daughter Alicia was on a cell phone. His wife Mitzi and mother Josie were beaming. Maybe it's the fact that he's 41 going on 42 and the Jets are asking him to be the kind of savior he was back in 1998, when he relieved Glenn Foley and took Bill Parcells to the AFC Championship Game. Maybe the same fans who couldn't wait for him to make way for Chad Pennington see him now as the George Foreman of his franchise, of his sport. Maybe that's why the standing ovation when he trotted back to his old huddle. "It's one of those things you never forget," Testaverde was saying now. "You remember that for the rest of your life. It sent chills through my body." He had stopped to sign autographs for young boys pleading, "Mr. Testaverde." He was asked if he had an idea that he was this popular in his hometown. "Not really," he said, and smiled. A few minutes later, he said: "This is as good as it gets." He managed the game. He got rid of the ball and was hammered only once, on his left arm on his lone interception in the fourth quarter. He threw the kinds of darts no one has seen from Jet quarterbacks this season, or at the end of last season. He took shots downfield. But most of all, he made a 1-3 team believe again. "He's out there smirking at me in warm-ups, like he knew something we didn't know," Wayne Chrebet said. Ty Law set up Testaverde for one touchdown with a 43-yard interception return to the Tampa 8. Testaverde, thanks to three three-and-outs, only had the ball for 6:10 in the first half, a blessing in disguise because there was no danger of him wilting. Then he started warming up, and it all came back to him. He engineered a 10-play, 59-yard touchdown drive, on which he welcomed tight end Doug Jolley to his teammates with a third-and-1 connection past a diving Derrick Brooks, and inspired Herm Edwards to go for it fourth-and-goal from the 1 and get it. "The nice part about him is he's comfortable with everything," Mike Heimerdinger said. "There's nothing he hasn't seen." Testaverde's best throw came late in the fourth quarter at a time when the Jets needed to keep the ball, when he placed a third-and-4 bullet for fearless Laveranues Coles in a place 17 yards downfield where few quarterbacks can put it. He finished 13-for-19 for 163 yards. "I hope my agent negotiates my part in the Disney movie; probably straight to DVD. I'm sure they'll start filming soon," Pete Kendall said. From Hempstead to Hollywood? "I knew he still had it in him," Mitzi Testaverde said. She was seated on the 50-yard line when everyone stood for her husband at the start. "I had tears in my eyes," she said. She was holding a sign that read: Energizer Vinny keeps going and going and going. Josie Testaverde was also on the 50 when everyone stood for her son. "I was so proud that I started to cry," she said. She had a feeling all along Vinny would play again for the Jets. "They say he's an old man. I'd like to choke them when they say it," she said, and laughed. Good for Good Old Vinny.