Vinny Testaverde looked as comfortable in the pocket for the New York Jets on Sunday as he was watching them from his couch two weeks ago. The Meadowlands crowd welcomed Testaverde back with rousing cheers and a standing ovation, and in the end, he deserved it: The 41-year-old quarterback led the Jets to a 14-12 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Curtis Martin ran for two touchdowns and Testaverde looked sharp despite a nine-month layoff. Vinny Testaverde didn't exactly set the world on fire last Sunday.

What he did, do, however, was light the fuse to success for the New York Jets.

Testaverde shook off a whole preseason worth of rust well enough in just one week to hand the ball off to Curtis Martin at the right times. The result was that Martin ran for a pair of touchdowns in a 14-12 upset over the previously un- beaten Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Testaverde completed 13 of 19 passes for 163 yards and one interception, but he didn't steer the Jets (2-3) into the ground. In fact, he darn near helped resurrect a team off to a 1-3 start with starter Chad Pennington out for the rest of the season following a second operation to his right throwing shoulder.

While everyone in Jetland may have been looking toward next season, Testaverde helped pull out a miracle that got the J-E-T-S, Jets, Jets, Jets focused on the here and now.

''I think I can still do it, that's why I keep coming back,'' Testaverde said after his first performance as a Jet in three years. ''If the line allows me to only get hit three times a game, I'm going to play a long time.''

Pennington seconded the comeback of Testaverde.

''This would be icing on the cake for him to come back and lead our team to a championship,'' he said. ''You can't write a better book than that. It's a great story. I'm rooting for him.''

Pennington even made himself available to the media on Monday, where he stated for the first time that the injury responsible for his latest surgery — a surface tear to his rotator cuff — was not as serious as the complete tear he had last season. While that was good news, Pennington admitted he probably won't start throwing a football with any force until March 2006.

''Now that I have the answers, my career hasn't flashed before [my eyes],'' he said Monday. ''It's not a career-ending thing. I'm excited about the rest of my career. I'm excited to have 10 months and a full offseason to get healthy and get back to the player I know I can be.''