Approach The Bench By Randy Lange Bergen Record 10/19/03 HOUSTON - Vinny Testaverde could be hoisted to the shoulders of his teammates on the Reliant Stadium field, beaming like a toothy John Elway after a Super Bowl triumph. He could be kneeling and bleeding from the scalp, like Y.A. Tittle after a brutal defeat. He could be at any emotional stop in between. And it may not make a lot of difference. Because win or lose against the Texans today, Testaverde's job for now may be done. Herman Edwards hasn't etched it in stone, but it can be read in the reddened forehead of Chad Pennington after he finishes his grueling half-hour post-practice workouts these days. There is a good chance that Testaverde will pass the baton - and the football - back to Pennington for Game 7 at Philadelphia a week from today. "We all know it's going to happen, so when the time comes, I'll just deal with it in my own way," Testaverde said during the week as he prepared for his fifth start since Pennington shattered his left wrist in a preseason game against the Giants. "I'll move on, I'll move forward. I'm not even thinking about it right now. I know I have to go out and help the team win a game this week." That's the catch, of course. How Testaverde plays will have no bearing on Edwards turning the offense and the team back over to Pennington. But giving Pennington something to work with when he returns is of paramount importance. That's why Edwards was walking a coaching tightrope in the past week, taking Pennington completely off his injury list and naming him the No. 3 quarterback for the Texans, yet stating Pennington won't play unless injuries force him to, and maybe not even then. "We can't worry about Chad," the coach said. "Vinny's the quarterback. He has to play good again, and we have to help him. When Chad comes back, he comes back." Edwards even endorsed Pennington's cone of silence toward the media until his status officially changes. "To his credit, he doesn't even want to talk about it," he said, bantering with reporters. "He'll be judged when he comes back and plays. 'How do you feel? Did you come back too early? Did the coach make the right decision?' We've got 25 questions all you guys get to ask. You can ask those questions when he comes back." Fair enough. But Testaverde's toughest query is whether he has another game in him like the last game, the 30-3 win over Buffalo. It wasn't his best statistical outing ever, but he operated efficiently in throwing three touchdown passes and no interceptions. And the 27-point victory was tied for the fifth-largest in his 190 NFL starts. Now the Jets' secondary has been beset by injuries and is getting a transfusion of inexperienced free-agent blood against Houston's potent passing offense, and leading pass-catcher Wayne Chrebet is sidelined with a back injury and didn't make the trip, although MRIs on his head and back were negative. Testaverde knows the road ahead can become very rocky in a hurry. "Every time you go out on the field, the whole objective is to get the ball in the end zone and score points," he said. "With our secondary banged up, there's more of a sense of urgency for us to do that. But there's been a sense of urgency all along because we've done such a poor job scoring points." Yes, the Buffalo game made the red-zone, third-down, and two-minute woes go away, but for how long? From the 2002 season opener at Buffalo through last week's rout of the Bills, Testaverde's offenses still have generated only nine touchdowns in 87 drives, a weak 10.3 percent TD rate and his record as a starter is 2-7. Yet Testaverde still has his admirers. One used to work against him in practice and today will attempt to pick him clean as he tries to score those points he talks of. "I know Vinny can get it done. I've seen him get it done," Texans' cornerback Marcus Coleman said. "A lot of people think he's washed up, but he's still got a mind for it, he still has a strong arm, he still can put the ball in the right place whenever you need to. He's still held up, taken care of himself. He's been in this league a long time because he can do it." And Curtis Martin has been a Vinny supporter since the two arrived in 1998 to transform the Jets' culture. "Did Vinny say this is a tough spot for him? I don't think it is," Martin said of a possible final start before Pennington returns. "We'll see what happens whenever that occurs. But Vinny's our guy right now. He's getting the job done, and I think he's doing a great job." There's no arguing Testaverde got the job done against the Bills. Now, if Vinny's last stand is to be truly memorable, he's got to do it again in a big way deep in the heart of Texas.