When Eric Mangini sat before Brett Favre this summer, the Jets head coach threw in one unexpected and unorthodox perk for the quarterback. Mangini told Favre he was was expecting their third son and that he wanted his son’s middle name to be Brett.

Eric Mangini’s opening statement to reporters Wednesday was a focused monologue on all of the many and varied strengths of upcoming opponent Cincinnati in which he made the Bengals sound like an amalgamation of the 1978 Steelers, 1985 Bears and 2004 Patriots.

Never mind that Cincinnati actually is 0-5 and off to its worst start since the 2002 squad went 0-7 en route to a 2-14 campaign.

“Looking at the Bengals,” Mangini said, “it’s pretty easy to see all the positive things that they do. They’ve lost to teams that have a combined record of 16-6. They scored the most points anybody has against the Giants, put them into overtime and played tough against Dallas in a tough situation.

On Sunday, the Jets face the Bengals, the team that started it all for Brett Favre in 1992. In his first significant NFL regular-season action, Favre, replaced an injured Don Majkowski and rallied them to a 24-23 victory over Cincinnati at Lambeau.

After a few hours out on the practice field, Brett Favre really gets to work in a crowded meeting room in the New York Jets’ training facility. The quarterback sits in on the wide receiver and tight end position meetings throughout the week as he and the group continue to build chemistry. There’s questions, suggestions and lots of light moments.

Every day after practice, Brett Favre and his wide receivers repair a classroom at the Jets’ facility. They turn down the lights and turn up the conversation, engaging in a strategic crossfire as they study themselves on the practice tape.

New York Jets safety Eric Smith will sit out Sunday’s game against Cincinnati after the NFL denied his appeal of a one-game suspension and fine for his helmet-to-helmet hit on Arizona’s Anquan Boldin. “He’ll be out this week,” coach Eric Mangini said Wednesday. “We had plans in place and things that we worked on from when we first learned about that, so we’ll just proceed along that path.” Smith…

Eric Smith lost his appeal Tuesday, as the NFL upheld its one-game suspension of the Jets safety. Smith will sit out Sunday’s home game against the Bengals (0-5).

Continuing what he began at the start of training camp, Eric Mangini isn’t killing the team with long and taxing practices. Even last week, he held back during the bye week, according to players, who said it will pay physical and emotional dividends.

Jets safety Eric Smith has appealed his one-game suspension and $50,000 fine by the NFL for his helmet-to-helmet hit last week on Arizona receiver Anquan Boldin.

Everyone jumped on Terrell Owens after he complained about Dallas’ offense. Chill. That’s what great players do.