Being that it is only preseason, we don’t want to overanalyze Al Groh’s decision to start Ray Lucas at quarterback in Saturday night’s practice game against the Ravens in Baltimore.

But Groh’s decision does raise a mild question about whether Vinny Testaverde is getting enough work as he trains his way back from the ruptured left Achilles’ tendon that wrecked his ’99 season and readies himself for 2000.

Testaverde wasn’t groaning yesterday over the somewhat-surprising news that he’ll be the second quarterback in against the Ravens, but he wasn’t dancing a jig over having extra time to rest, either.

“I didn’t express it to the coaches, but last week (against the Packers) I would have liked to play more,” Testaverde revealed yesterday.

He’s played in only five series in the first two games, encompassing 17 snaps in each game. In those five drives, Testaverde is 10-of-18 for 234 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT with a 95.8 rating, leading the team to two TDs and a field goal.

In the two drive the first-team offense didn’t score, Robert Farmer fumbled the ball away near the Saints’ goal line and Testaverde threw an INT that was returned for a New Orleans TD.

“That’s what the coaches are here for – to decide who to put in the games,” Testaverde said. “I’m not going to question that. I go into the game when I’m told and when they tell me my night’s over, I leave the game.

“There is a fine line between being ready and putting yourself at risk, and (Groh) has to consider all these things,” Testaverde went on. “That’s his job, telling us when we’re playing and when we’re not. I’m not going to cause waves.”

Particularly not in preseason. Testaverde is the Jets’ quarterback. Just like rookie first-round draft pick Chad Pennington is not pushing Lucas for the No. 2 job, Lucas is not pushing Testaverde for the starting job.

The Jets’ 2000 season, much like it did in ’99, rests on the strong and capable right arm of Testaverde.

“I’m not going to start looking into things when there aren’t things to look into,” Testaverde said.

Testaverde did say that he’d speak up if he felt like he needed more work entering the Sept. 3 regular-season opener.

“If I felt like I needed more work going into the last pre-season game, yeah, I’d say something,” he said. “I might even say something this week if needed.”

He also said this Lucas start might be part of a pattern created by Bill Parcells, who started Testaverde in place of then-starter Glenn Foley in the second pre-season game of ’98 – ironically against the Ravens.

Perhaps Groh has similar plans – to raise Lucas’ confidence after another poor performance against the Packers in Green Bay.

“It seems to be a philosophy of Bill and Al and this coaching staff,” Testaverde said of the pre-season quarterback shakeup. “I just roll with the punches.”

Groh said, “Ray’s going to start, but I only want Vinny to play with the first group. I want to make sure (Testaverde’s) stint is not too short. But I want to make sure Vinny gets some two-minute-drill work. We’ll monitor it.

“Ray started a number of games for us last year and did a good job,” Groh went on. “I kind of want to get him back into that (starter’s) mode.”

When asked specifically if he was worried that Testaverde might not be getting enough work, particularly in light of his inactivity during the last 11 months.

“If I was concerned I’d give him more work,” Groh said. “I certainly haven’t seen anything from the first two preseason games to suggest he needs more work.”

It is possible that, because Testaverde has looked so sharp in his limited action, that he’s lulled Groh into a false sense of security.

The other side of the move is the fact that Lucas gets himself back into a starting mindset, helping ready himself for any eventuality of another Testaverde injury.

“I always get excited about starting a football game – preseason or regular season,” Lucas said.”

Lucas, though, insisted that he was thinking of neither his shaky performance (two INTs in the loss to the Packers) last week.

“The one thing Vinny taught me was to let the past go,” Lucas said. “You can’t worry about what happened last time.”