Chad Pennington completed nine of his 10 passes in the Jets’ 28-21 victory against the Minnesota Vikings Friday night, but it was his one incompletion that gave the greatest assurance that his surgically repaired shoulder is healthy again. By the time the weekend was over, it was Giants quarterback Eli Manning, who sprained his elbow in Saturday’s 27-21 win over Carolina, whose injury most concerned fans in New York as the two teams prepare to play each other on Friday.

Manning will miss the annual Jets-Giants preseason game to rest the elbow, taking a bit of luster off a game that both teams will take seriously after the brawl that took place when they practiced together on August 6. The Giants announced yesterday that Manning’s elbow is sprained and bruised, but not serious. Coach Tom Coughlin said he felt Manning would be ready to play in time for the season opener against Arizona on September 11.

Manning hurt the elbow when Panthers defensive end Julius Peppers batted the ball out of his hand on a play that ended with Peppers returning the fumble for a touchdown. It was the worst play of the night for the Giants even before they realized Manning injured his elbow.

Manning stayed on the field and threw a beautiful 41-yard touchdown pass on the next series, but he later had two incompletions on what should have been easy passes. For the night, he completed only three of nine passes, but all three completions were long ones as he finished with 150 yards and two touchdowns.

Even if Manning’s elbow is fine by the time the regular season starts, the play on which he was injured further exposed the Giants’ weakness at picking up the opposing pass rush. Peppers got to Manning after beating new right tackle Kareem McKenzie. Before that, Carolina cornerback Ricky Manning sacked his namesake after blitzing past tight end Jeremy Shockey.

Giants quarterbacks have been sacked five times in both of their preseason games, and it could get worse on Friday, as Jets defensive coordinator Donnie Henderson has heavily employed safety blitzes so far in the preseason.

Tim Hasselbeck likely will become the starter until Manning returns. Hasselbeck has looked capable as the leader of the Giants’ second-string offense during the preseason, moving ahead of Jesse Palmer on the depth chart by completing 15 of 30 passes for 183 yards with two touchdowns and one interception.

In addition to Hasselbeck and Palmer, the Giants have rookie Jared Lorenzen on their roster, and they invited former no. 1 overall pick Tim Couch in for a workout before the Panthers game. Of course, the Giants view Manning’s development as the most important goal of this season, so the extended use of any of the backups would be considered a tremendous disappointment.

The Giants had bad injury news on defense, too, where starting cornerback Will Peterson sprained his medial collateral ligament. It’s unclear how much time he will miss, but second-round pick Corey Webster has played very well and might have pushed Peterson out of the starting lineup anyway. The aggressive Webster forced two turnovers against the Panthers, stripping receiver Steve Smith of the ball and making a diving interception. At this point, he’s looking like an excellent pick.

Elsewhere on the defense, two new linemen had big days for Big Blue. Tackle Kendrick Clancy, signed this off-season from the Pittsburgh Steelers, had two tackles and forced a bad pass from Carolina’s Jake Delhomme that Will Allen intercepted. And rookie defensive end Justin Tuck played well against the run and even dropped into coverage to grab an interception.

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For the Jets, Pennington’s incompletion against Minnesota demonstrated more than the nine passes his receivers caught. The one ball that hit the dirt traveled 50 yards in the air, and Pennington looked comfortable throwing it.

Also encouraging were Pennington’s six completions went to Laveranues Coles, who is reassuming his role of “favorite target” after a two-year hiatus with the Redskins. Coles and Pennington showed the same rapport that made Pennington the NFL’s passing leader in 2002.

But while the passing game looked solid, the Jets struggled running against the Vikings. Curtis Martin had four carries for six yards. Derrick Blaylock, slated to fill the backup role vacated by LaMont Jordan, ran for 12 yards on his first carry, mostly because the Jets faced third-and-21 and the Vikings’ defense was focused on preventing a long pass. Blaylock totaled only nine yards on his other seven carries.

Even worse, the Jets’ secondary continued to make opposing quarterbacks look great. A week after allowing Detroit’s Joey Harrington to complete all nine of his passes, the Jets watched Daunte Culpepper slice them up for 11 completions in 13 attempts and 146 yards. The starting defense has now given up 20 completions in 22 attempts for 246 yards.

Rookie safety Kerry Rhodes continued to look good with his second interception of the preseason, but the Jets desperately need cornerback Ty Law, who is scheduled to make his debut appearance in a Jets uniform on Friday. If the career backup Hasselbeck looks as good as Harrington and Culpepper did, Jets fans have every reason to worry.

On the defensive line, Dewayne Robertson played briefly a week after sitting out to rest an ailing knee. He became one of the most important members of the Jets’ defense when his fellow starting tackle from last year, Jason Ferguson, left for Dallas. Third-round rookie Sione Pouha, a 329-pound run stuffer from Utah, had a forced fumble against the Vikings and could become a regular part of the defensive tackle rotation.

Many of the Jets’ special teams positions are still open. Australian Ben Graham appears likely to win his first spot on an American football roster, as he continues to lead veteran Micah Knorr in the punting competition. Graham had a long punt of 50 yards on Friday and landed two punts inside the 20-yard line.

Elsewhere, undrafted rookie DeCori Birmingham is making a strong case for inclusion on the roster with his contributions on special teams. Birmingham had a 37-yard punt return and leads all punt returners in the NFL this preseason with 105 yards. Second-round pick Justin Miller also returned a kickoff for 35 yards.

The Giants will technically be the home team when they play the Jets at 8 p.m. Friday at the Meadowlands.

Mr. Smith writes for the statistical Web site FootballOutsiders.com.