The Giants can pretty much lock things up with a win at Washington today, but I’m not on their bandwagon today. The Redskins are desperate to stay alive and they are at home. There’s no telling what impact the Plaxico Burress mess might have on the team.

I don’t think it will affect their concentration level, because these guys are sold on team. But, Burress in the lineup is one more weapon for Eli Manning.

I like the Jets today. They are on a serious roll, at home against a team that can’t stop the run. They really can’t stop the pass for that matter, either. Denver is erratic and there’s no telling which team will show up.

I hope you check in while you’re watching with your comments. Have a good day.

His numbers aren’t as good as Kurt Warner’s or Drew Brees’, but why not Brett Favre for NFL MVP this season?

Warner is a popular pick because he’s taken the Cardinals into first place in the NFC West, but that is also the worst division in football. But, what other player had the expectations and pressure as Favre? Yes, there’s thinking the Jets are in first because of Tom Brady’s injury, but still, they have won eight games and the Patriots are still a contender.

“I’m glad I came,” Favre said of his decision to return to football as a Jet. “There’s days when I wake up, it’s tougher to go through the daily rituals of football. But, at the end of the day, through this three- four-month period, I’m glad I made that decision.”

Favre has two more years on his contract, but hasn’t said anything about next season. It’s impossible to think with him as to what he’ll do because Favre does not go by logic, he goes by heart.

The Cowboys and Eagles both made noises like they don’t want their seasons to end yesterday, and I have a sense the Redskins will follow suit Sunday against the Giants, who go in riding a six-game winning streak. The Giants proved last week at Arizona they could win without Brandon Jacobs and Plaxico Burress, and neither is back to 100 percent.

The thinking is the Giants have been so hot and are due for a clunker, while Washington is a desperate home team. The Giants are a three-point pick based out of respect for their record, and while they are that good, I don’t see them running the table.

It’s not often both of New York’s football teams are on the road the same day, but that’s the way it is today with the Jets at Tennessee and Giants in Arizona.

The Jets will try to sustain the momentum and good feelings garnered from beating the Patriots in New England a week ago Thursday while the Giants seek to maintain their crushing roll through the NFC.

Ironically, both teams face opposing ex-Giants quarterbacks, Kerry Collins for the Titans and Kurt Warner for the Cardinals.

I’ll be monitoring both games and invite you to chat throughout the afternoon. But, from now until kickoff, feel free to post your thoughts, comments and questions.

Every week is a statement week in the NFL, and Week 12 is no different for the Jets, and to a lesser degree, the Giants.

A Jets’ victory at Tennessee validates what they did in New England; the Giants winning in Arizona, the site of last season’s Super Bowl title, is a step toward wrapping up home field advantage.

There’s been some banter on the talk shows this week – and wrongly so, I might add – the Jets can afford a loss because it’s not a division game.

Huh?

They all are important.

“I think it’s a measuring stick for us to find out who we are and what we’re capable of doing,’’ said quarterback Brett Favre.  “We’re playing the best team in football right now. It’ll be a tough test for us, not any tougher than last week based on what’s happened here in the past.

“The most important thing is to have confidence that you can win every game no matter what happens or who you’re playing or where you’re playing them, it can be done.’’

The 7-3 Jets, winners of four straight and six of seven, would be the hottest team in the AFC if not for the undefeated Titans, who are seeking to become just the eighth team since 1970 to open a season at 11-0.

And, they are doing it with former Giants quarterback Kerry Collins, who took over for the injured Vince Young and hasn’t relinquished the position.

Think Favre, and you think gun-slinging playmaker. Think Collins, and the descriptor is “game manager.’’

All quarterbacks, regardless of style, are game managers. The Titans rely on runners Chris Johnson and Lendale White to set the tone, but teams need to throw and Collins has completed 59 percent of his passes and has an eight-to-four touchdowns-to-interceptions ratio.

“I think he’s doing a great job,’’ Favre said. “I can remember playing against Kerry in the championship game in ‘96, I think, and here we are facing off again. … I give him a lot of credit.’’

For all the talk about Favre opening up the game, the Jets need to keep moving the ball on the game. Thomas Jones and Leon Washington have highlighted a ground attack that has averaged 164 yards and scored eight touchdowns over the last five games.

Jones, who leads the AFC with 854 rushing yards, is going after his third straight 100-yard game.

Should the Jets win, they’ll gain ground on either Miami or New England, who play today. If you’re a Jets fan, don’t buy into the logic you want the Patriots to win. The Jets have split with the Patriots and still have a game with the Dolphins, whom they already beat.

If you’re a Jets fan, regardless of what happened last week in New England, you still fear the Patriots and don’t want to face them in the playoffs.

Assuming there will be a playoffs, for if the Jets should lose, nothing is guaranteed. The Giants, meanwhile, need a collapse of historic proportions to avoid playing into January.

They can lose today and still claim the homefield because Carolina is on their schedule.

Like the Jets, the Giants will also face a former Giants quarterback today, Kurt Warner, who has the Cardinals in first place in the NFC West and is the favorite to be named the NFL’s MVP.

The Cardinals average over 300 yards a game in the air, and have arguably the game’s best one-two punch in Larry Fitzgerald (939 yards) and Anquan Boldin (792), and with it are on the verge of winning their first division title since 1975.

“You know, it’s fun,’’ Warner said. “That’s all I want is another chance to compete for a championship. We’re back in the mix again. Obviously, there’s still a long way to go, but to be 10 games in and be in the mix is fun. We haven’t been there in a while. I haven’t been there in a while.’’

As usual, the Giants will try to keep Warner off the field with their three-headed, punishing ground attack of Brandon Jacobs, Derrick Ward and Ahmad Bradshaw.

Jacobs, however, did not practice Wednesday, and might not be able to play.

And, if he doesn’t play today and the Giants win, well, that’s another huge statement.

It was a story that was eventually to be written, but Rich Cimini of The Daily News had it in today’s paper: Does owner Woody Johnson want quarterback Brett Favre to return?

FAVRE: Do you want him back?

Did anybody really expect Favre to be a “one and done?’’ He has two years remaining on his contract, salaries of $13 million and $14 million non-guaranteed.

“It’s up to Brett, what he wants to do, how he analyzes the season and whether he thought the experience was a positive one for him,’’ said Johnson.

Favre said he doesn’t know what he wants to do, or how he’ll respond to playing well. If the Jets go deep into the playoffs, perhaps Favre will feel some vindication and call it a career.

Perhaps doing so well will only fuel his desires.

One should realize by now the folly it is to guess what Favre will do. It’s hard to figure out the great ones.

Johnson told Cimini what contributes to the greatness that is Favre is his common man persona.

“He wants to be perceived as one of the guys and nothing special,” Johnson said. “He doesn’t want anything special done for him. He doesn’t demand anything. It’s good.’’

Some athletes, like Mike Mussina this week from the Yankees, have a definite idea of when to call it a career. Favre does not, so it wouldn’t be a surprise either way.

However, what’s best for the Jets is for Favre to keep playing.  Next year is the fourth in a four-year contract for coach Eric Mangini, and no doubt the last thing he wants is to start over with a new quarterback in that situation.

Favre has played well. Perhaps he’s thrown more interceptions than he’d like, but we knew going in he has a gunslinger mentality.

Individually, Favre has shown there’s more in his tank, but what he’s done for the Jets is more important. He’s raised them to a level of respectability they’ve long lacked and has them in position of controlling their own destiny.

Personally, I want him back. He’s fun to watch. He’s special to watch.

Do you want him back?-John Delcos

The Giants won’t decide until tomorrow how to classify running back Brandon Jacobs’ knee injury. They might not want to say he’s out just to keep Arizona guessing, but if I’m Tom Coughlin, I would be thinking of am sitting him this week. The Giants have a healthy lead in the NFC East and a game left against Carolina to determine home field.

The Giants also have the deepest running attack in the NFL with Derrick Ward and Ahmad Bradshaw, so Coughlin wouldn’t have a bare cupboard against the Cardinals.

“There is a little swelling, he is walking really well,” Coughlin said of Jacobs, who did not practice today. “They are going to do all of the tests. But hopefully we can get this under control.”

Rest might be the best way to do it.

There was talk of the St. Louis Rams being a trap game for the Jets, as it came prior to the New England game. Well, the Jets routed the Rams, then went up to New England to beat their arch rivals in overtime.

That brings us to this Sunday at Tennessee.

After beating the Patriots, will the Jets have a feeling of “mission accomplished,” and flatten out against the undefeated Titans, a team few expect them to beat in the first place? Will they give back the momentum they’ve created?

Or, will the realize what they’ve accomplished and play the Titans tough and possibly prevail in a rough setting on the road? Doing so would really be taking the next step.

Did you hear Donovan McNabb’s confession that he didn’t know there could be ties in a NFL game? What do they put into that soup?

New York Giants coach Tom Coughlin, right, shakes hands with New York Jets coach Eric Mangini after a preseason football game, Aug. 25, 2007 (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)

Both New York football teams made January-like statements in Week 11, but the decibel tone for the Giants is louder.

If you thought going in the Giants were the NFL’s best _ even better than undefeated Tennessee _ after watching them stuff Baltimore and run wild over, through and past the Ravens’ top-ranked run defense, there’s no reason to change your mind.

“We’re playing a lot smarter,’’ Giants quarterback Eli Manning said yesterday. “We’re not making the mistakes that hurt us in the past. We’re getting opportunities and taking advantage of them.’’

On a neutral field, say the one where they’ll play the Super Bowl, I’d take the Giants over the Titans.

How about in Tennessee?

Well, it might be a coin toss choice, but if the Giants can win at Pittsburgh and Philly, why can’t they win at Tennessee?

They can, but I don’t share the same confidence in the Jets winning there this weekend. With their 7-3 record, they have the second-best record in the AFC, but who out there doesn’t believe the New England Patriots would be better than 6-4 if they had Tom Brady?

It is like what it was for the Knicks when Michael Jordan was playing baseball.

If the Jets make the playoffs, it won’t be as much as where Brett Favre took them as it is they being able to get there because Brady is rehabbing his knee.

The Jets made huge strides in winning at New England in overtime, but watching their laugher fade into an overtime thriller, says there’s more work to be done.

The Jets’ first-place standing in the AFC East isn’t a house of cards, but it is fragile, and should they lose Sunday to the Titans on the road they’ll still share first because Miami plays New England, both at 6-4.

For that matter, Buffalo could also be 6-4 after tonight if it beats the Browns.

After beating the Patriots, Favre said: “Why can’t we make this easier?’’

They didn’t because the Thomas Jones-Leon Washington running game, and Favre’s play-action passes, were limited in the second half, letting an 18-point lead fade away into head scratching wonderment.

It’s testament to the Jets’ character, and a sign they are emotionally stronger, that they persevered in overtime after letting the game get away.

However, championship caliber teams have a killer instinct. They go for the throat. That’s what the Giants did when the Ravens briefly cut into their lead.

The Jets are better than they’ve been in years, but aren’t close to being where the Giants are now, even with Favre.

Talk of a Green-and-Blue Super Bowl is fun, but it’s just that _ talk.

Realistic, at least from the Jets’ perspective, it is not.