For anybody who saw Bills cornerback Terrence McGee hit Laveranues Coles from behind, causing the Jets wide receiver’s helmet to slam into the Giants Stadium turf at great speed and without anything to check his fall, this should come as no surprise.

Honestly, the surprise was the seemingly-indestructible Coles was in sweats for today’s practice, not taking part in the session. If anybody can recover quickly, it’s Coles, but, at this point, his streak of 104 straight starts – the longest for an NFL receiver – and 107 consecutive games is in serious jeopardy.

Coles, for two major reasons, hasn’t been as chipper this week. But he is dealing with a concussion and the fact that Chad Pennington, his very good friend, was benched. Coles repeated today that he was cool with the move as long as Pennington was. But he didn’t give us any inkling of whether that meant Pennington was cool with what went down.

Coles also became agitated when a reporter persisted in asking him about the injury. Mangini does prevent his players from talking about their injuries but, in other weeks, Coles might not have snapped as quickly.

Coles also declined to participate in a conference call with the Redskins’ beat reporters. This could be because of the injury and the way Coles feels or because he doesn’t want to  answer questions about his old team.

In other practice news, my boy Mike DeVito looks like he injured his right shoulder or arm in a tackling drill. Fullback Darian Barnes lowered a helmet into DeVito, the grandson of late Suffern coach Ralph Consiglio, and DeVito immediately walked to the sidelines for medical attention. He rejoined the other defensive linemen but just walked through the drills and did not do any more hitting, at least not in the 30 minutes of practice the media was allowed to watch.

DeVito, an undrafted free agent out of Maine, was on the 45-man active roster for the first time this past Sunday, making his NFL debut in the second quarter of a 13-3 loss to the Bills.

Also from practice today, Darrelle Revis was fielding punts as Leon Washington had trouble handling some of Ben Graham’s boots into the sun.

Leave it to the Jets to conduct a conference call in which absolutely no information is revealed.

Jonathan Vilma spent 10 minutes on the phone with the media, his first public comments since being placed on an injured reserve with a knee injury. But we still don’t know what knee it is or what the extent of the damage is.

“I can’t get into specifics on that,’’ Vilma said.

In fact, each time Vilma was asked specifically about his injury, there was the distinct sound of whispers in the background, as if Vilma was being coached on how to answer the question.

Exasperated, the media finally asked Vilma why, if he’s already out for the season, he can’t say what his injury is.

“That’s beyond me,’’ Vilma said. “You have to take that up with Mangini. I don’t have any control over that.’’

Here’s an experiment we in the media can try at tomorrow’s presser. We can ask Mangini about Erik Coleman’s appendix problem from the 2006 training camp. I’m sure, as far as the Jets are concerned, that is still just being classified as an illness.

Vilma said he didn’t even realize he had been hurt in the game, as if that might explain away his bizarre radio interview two days later when he told the WFAN co-hosts that it was a coach’s decision for him to come out of the Bengals’ game and he was absolutely not injured.

“I honestly don’t know how I got hurt in the game,’’ Vilma said. “I kept on playing, kept trying to fight through it. It was one of those freak accidents where you step funny, you step the wrong way. I can’t even explain it.’’

OK, so Vilma doesn’t know how he got hurt but he knows it happened when he stepped funny or the wrong way.

As my colleague Rich Cimini of the Daily News might say – puh-leeze.

I think it was Rich who asked Vilma why he had been so adamant in that radio interview that he had not been hurt.

“Are you asking me?’’ Vilma said. “Sounds to me like you are trying to imply something.’’

Or, as Herm Edwards might say, “Are you bristling at me. I can bristle, too.’’

So the Jets, who love this cloak-and-dagger stuff, want to keep us in the media and you fans in the dark. Look, I make a living doing this so I don’t take any of this personally. But if I was a fan who spent several thousand dollars each year on this team, or even a casual fan who’d spent a hundred bucks on a jersey, or even $5 bucks on a Jets’ shot glass, I’d feel insulted at this point.

This has nothing to do with competitive advantages. Mangini claims that by not saying, teams won’t know which knee Vilma hurt when he does play next season. It’ll take the other 31 teams about 10 seconds of watching preseason film to figure that out.

To be fair, the Jets are playing within the NFL rules since they’re not obligated to say anything.

I’m under no obligations either. It’s his right knee. If the Jets don’t like that, they can prove me wrong.

On the day that was no doubt the most disappointing of his NFL career, Chad Pennington couldn’t have been classier.

Not many benched guys in this league would come into the media room hours after being told he no longer was the starting quarterback and been as supportive as Pennington was to his successor, Kellen Clemens.

Clemens spent plenty of time during his media session – symbolic or not, he came into the room after Pennington – talking about his strong relationship with Pennington. He still defers to Pennington as a team captain and, title or not, a team leader. That’s a smart move, because Clemens is in a tough spot here. He needs to gain the trust and respect of the other veterans in the room. Any false moves toward Pennington could hurt his locker-room rep.

But team politics aside, I don’t think there was anything false about the admiration Clemens showed to Pennington.

“It has a certain sense of difficulty to it,’’ Clemens said of the day, though he added he was excited and it was an exciting day for him. “Chad Pennington is not only a teammate and a mentor, but he’s also a very good friend of mine. You wouldn’t wish it on anybody and especially not Chad because he is the player and the person that he is. So, I mean, there is some feelings for him and what he’s going through as well.’’

Great answer and that bodes well for the Jets’ future. Of course Clemens has to produce, but he apparently does have the makeup of an NFL quarterback.

“He’s a natural leader,’’ running back Thomas Jones said. “He comes in the huddle and he has a presence. He’s a smart guy. He knows the offense really well. Those guys (he and Pennington) are always over here in the playbook. We’ll be behind him 100 percent and make sure we’re doing our part to make his job easier.’’

Pennington spent plenty of time talking about how he’s not worried about his future, that it wouldn’t be fair to Clemens or his other teammates to openly wonder about his long-term future with the Jets. Which, of course, will be limited if Clemens produces.

That’s a discussion Pennington said he would have with us in the media after the season is over.

However, I did ask him whether, at age 31, he felt like he was at a career crossroads of if he still saw himself as an NFL starter.

“Yeah, absolutely, I definitely see myself as a starter,’’ Pennington said. “I see myself as a productive quarterback in this league and a guy who can bring a lot of great things to his team. But, right now, that’s really not important.’’

Pennington will start in the NFL again, probably next season, probably for another team. Speculation as to which team would be a good fit has already begun – Vikings? Panthers?

For now, though, he’s back to holding the white towel, back in the role he left in 2002 when he was Clemens to Vinny Testaverde.

Kellen Clemens will be the starting QB Sunday against the Washington Redskins, Jets coach Eric Mangini just announced in his presser.

Said presser is still in process so I’ll be back with more later, in case anybody wants to read some non A-Rod, Joe Girardi stuff today…

Taking a window of opportunity here as the blogging system seems to be up for the moment.

Watched Jonathan Vilma walk through the tunnel and toward the locker room with his Jets’ teammates. He walked without crutches and though he was wearing a loose sweat suit, it didn’t necessarily seem like he had a cast or anything bulky around his knee.

He was, however, limping and limping in such a manner that it appears he has hurt his right knee, which I had heard previously.

Hopefully, more later. The only tease I can provide is that nothing is settled for next week in terms of a quarterback. Eric Mangini gave the standard watch the tape line, Chad Pennington admitted he was surprised to be taken out but not angry and Kellen Clemens says he prepares the same every week anyway.

However, at 1-7, 2008 has officially begun, it’s time to turn the page on 2007. Whether or not the coaching staff will see it that way is another matter.

More bugs in the blogging system so this will be a quick post as the third quarter has already started.

But I’m wondering if they’re going to keep Chris Baker out of the locker room after the game. Because an obvious question is what the heck were the Jets thinking on third-and-1 (again) in the red zone by putting Brad Smith behind center in the shotgun, then handing off to Leon Washington, who fumbled. It’s third and freakin’ 1. The Jets shouldn’t have to try and finesse a 1-yard gain. They shouldn’t have to try and fool a defense that, by all NFL statistical standards, stinks. Is lining Chad Pennington split left at wide receiver really fooling anybody.

Just give the darn ball to Thomas Jones and let him get a yard.

Honestly, the message this coaching staff is sending to the players is insulting: We don’t trust you to gain a yard.

Three times now, at the end of today’s first half, and that third- and fourth-and-1 against the Eagles, the coaching staff did not trust its offensive line to gain one yard.

I’d say things could get ugly but I’m pretty sure we’re already there.

With C.J. Mosley inactive, that means defensive lineman Mike DeVito, an undrafted free agent out of Maine, will be active for the first time in his career. DeVito’s grandfather, the late Ralph Consiglio, was the former Suffern High School coach.

So, to recap, that means rookies DeVito and Jacob Bender, an offensive lineman, are both active for the first time in his careers.

Also, just a quick impression after the Bills’ first drive, but if the Bills are able to play smash-mouth football against the Jets, this might be a long day. Of course, it helps that the Bills apparently have no clue where the end zone is. That shovel pass call was awful – let Trent Edwards throw the ball.

Finally, I guess most of you decided to stay home because the stands are half full here. Can’t say I blame anybody who chose not to show up today.

Between internet problems here at the Meadowlands and blog issues on our own web site, this post has been a long time coming.

Also, since I can’t tell how long our site will stay up and running, I’m going to make this short.

As for the inactives, rookie offensive lineman Jacob Bender, the sixth-round pick, is active for the first time. Now, let’s see whether he’s playing for Adrien Clarke. Also, TE Joe Kowalewski is active while fullback Darian Barnes is not. Not sure why they keep putting Barnes on the inactive list. I’m sure he’s doing a slow burn, even if he’s not saying anything about it.

Jets – QB Marques Tuiasosopo (third QB), CB Drew Coleman (so much for him being active last week), Barnes, OL Will Montgomery, OL Adrian Jones (Bender is taking his spot), TE Jason Piciask and DL C.J. Mosley.

Bills – QB Gibran Hamdan (emergency QB), CB Ashton Youboty (great name), RB Anthony Thomas, S Jim Leonhard, LB Leon Joe, TE Ryan Neufeld, WR Sam Aiken and DE Ryan Denney.

Jets green over white, Bills white over white. The wind is whipping really strongly here, headed toward the west end zone, at least according to the flags. On the field, it’s swirling no doubt.

Linebacker Matt Chatham will also make his 2007 debut after being activated off the PUP list.

Meanwhile, the lights keep flickering here in the press box. Between the faulty internet and our own site’s technological issues, I might as well be using a typewriter and calling up the copy boy later in the day to dictate.

Meanwhile, for those avid followers of this blog, the cake was fantastic yesterday and once I was able to file, I was in a good mood playing with the kids.

Back with more, hopefully, later.

Make that 52 players on the active roster. The Jets today activated veteran linebacker/special teams specialist Matt Chatham from the physically-unable-to-perform list to take Jonathan Vilma’s spot.

The Jets still have one roster opening but will not fill it before tomorrow’s game with the Bills.

Chatham’s return eases some of my earlier grumpiness. From a media standpoint, it’s almost like the coaching staff is throwing us a bone. Not that Chatham gives anything up but he’s incredibly approachable and seems to enjoy the interaction with us media types. Very intelligent, a great conversationalist with some strong, well-formed opinions.

In fact, he gave me two of my favorite quotes from last season, both which made our fine newspaper. The first, ironically after the first Bills’ game, came in response to his reaction at an onsides kick being directed straight at him. At the time, Chatham had a cast on his hand so the fact that the Bills recovered the onside kick – and almost tied the game – was really no reflection on Chatham. Still, he admitted after the game he almost, “emptied into his pants’’ when he saw the ball coming straight at him.

I love that type of honesty.

Then, after the Jets beat the Patriots in New England, Chatham talked about the victory in terms of the “woo factor.’’ As in, “woo, yeah, baby, we won the game.’’

And since I haven’t done so already, let me give a few thoughts on tomorrow’s game, plus a prediction.

I know I’ve said this a few times lately, but I like the Jets a lot in this game. I think Chad Pennington feels like the weight of the world is off his shoulders, even if he could still be pulled at any moment. I think he will definitely play a solid game, I’d like to say Jerricho Cotchery will start being more of a factor on offense. However, I think the Jets are going to have to score some points because, even though the Bills offense has been anything but prolific this season, I do expect Marshawn Lynch to have a field day against a Jets defense incapable of stopping the run. David Harris’ insertion for Vilma will help in pass defense and, eventually, also in run defense. But not just yet.

My youngest daughter just informed me cake’s being served here at my friend’s daughter’s first birthday party so I’m out.

Jets 27, Bills 23.

This post finds your intrepid blogger in somewhat of an annoyed mood; more on that in a few sentences.

First, this breaking news: the Jets have placed linebacker Jonathan Vilma on injured reserve because of the knee injury he suffered against the Bengals last week. No great shock here, the reports all week were that the delay in putting him on IR was because Vilma was seeking second opinions. The Jets now have just 51 players on their active roster, with two spots open. Most likely, linebacker Matt Chatham will be activated before tomorrow’s game against the Bills. Then again, we figured Chatham would have been activated by now since there’s been a roster spot open since wide receiver David Clowney was waived on Tuesday (later re-signed to the practice squad).

Now for the annoyed part (and I write this knowing nobody likes hearing a sports writer whine) but this is something that didn’t need to wait until Saturday. For sure, this was known Friday and, to be fair, both Vilma and the Jets knew this was the almost certain eventuality by Wednesday, if not on Monday. So instead of releasing this in a timely fashion, they wait until Saturday, an NFL beat writer’s one day off during the week. So I got the news at my daughter’s swim meet in Poughkeepsie and am now sitting at my sister-in-law’s house in New Paltz writing web updates and blogs, on her computer. Later, I’ll be at a friend’s house near Kingston, where there’s no cell reception and I’ll be doing more updates from there, on her computer during her kid’s first birthday party, as the Jets have two roster spots open.

I maintain there was no reason to wait until Saturday with this news, that never mind an inconvenience in my life, the Jets are not being straight up with their fans.

Thanks for listening to this rant, more later no doubt.