Upbeat About Vinny Heimerdinger thinks Testaverde's quick release can offset his lack of mobility; QB likes wide-open attack By Ken Berger Newsday 10/7/05 Mike Heimerdinger was asked yesterday about the challenge of having a quarterback with limited mobility, a description that certainly fits 41-year-old Vinny Testaverde. "I'm just excited to have a quarterback," the Jets' offensive coordinator said. It has been a long two weeks for Heimerdinger, whose lofty expectations for the Jets' offense bottomed out two weeks ago when he lost his top two quarterbacks to shoulder injuries. Speaking with reporters for the first time since Chad Pennington and Jay Fiedler were lost - for the season, in Pennington's case, and for most of it, in Fiedler's - Heimerdinger explained why he believes Testaverde is the right fit to step in. "With Vinny's arm, the ball has a chance to get downfield," Heimerdinger said. "But we've got to separate outside to give him the chance and we've got to protect long enough to let him get the damn thing out." You can almost feel Heimerdinger's pain. Watching the Jets' offense this season has been like watching a washing machine on spin cycle. Actually, it's been a vicious cycle: No respect for the downfield passing game has taken away the running game, which in turn has put more pressure on the quarterback. "He has a pretty wide-open offense," Testaverde said of Heimerdinger. "Hopefully, we'll be able to stretch the field a little bit and attack some people, which should hopefully loosen things up for the running game." The three quarterbacks Heimerdinger has used have been sacked 14 times in four games despite being more mobile than Testaverde. Heimerdinger said most of the problems involved poor communication, and that he's simplified the protections this week. He's also counting on Testaverde to help the situation by making fast decisions, something that could be problematic given his long layoff and newness to the offense. "I know they're not going to get real close to him before the ball comes out," Heimerdinger said. Testaverde met Heimerdinger for the first time shortly after signing with the Jets a week ago Tuesday. They spoke for about 10 minutes about philosophy, and Testaverde has been through only five practices. Yesterday was somewhat of a breakthrough in that Testaverde said he found himself reacting more and thinking less for the first time. "The thing about Mike Heimerdinger is he allows the quarterback just to find the open guy," said Testaverde, who was limited in Paul Hackett's strict progression-reading offense from 2001-03. "You're not stuck on one side of the [field], he's not handcuffing you in certain ways. He's just like, 'Hey, if you have a one-on-one, go find the one-on-one and go throw it.'" Heimerdinger, who bases everything in his passing scheme on protecting against the blitz, told coach Herman Edwards that Testaverde's experience would outweigh Brooks Bollinger's mobility in that regard. "I thought we needed to go with Vinny because we don't have time right now for Brooks to develop," Heimerdinger said. "It's going to take him three to four weeks probably to see everything that he's going to see." In four weeks, Heimerdinger has seen much more than he ever hoped. At about this time, Pennington's arm strength and comfort level with the offense probably would have been peaking. Instead, Heimerdinger has a 41-year-old quarterback who is trying not to show his age. "I went to Home Depot, bought all the Rustoleum they had, and sprayed it all over," Testaverde said. "Everywhere. Everything's old, not just my arm. Hopefully, I'll have a few Sundays where things go well." The first Sunday like that can't come soon enough for his new offensive coordinator. "Our record [1-3] stinks, and we haven't played real good offensively," Heimerdinger said. "But yet if we make two plays in two games, we're sitting here pretty good."