Vinny Testaverde's first touchdown pass of the preseason was the result of a brilliant deception by Wayne Chrebet.

Chrebet stood in the corner of the end zone and waited until the last possible second until he lifted his arms and caught the 4-yard pass from Testaverde.

Defender Dave Thomas could only watch in frustration as the New York Jets scored the first of two first-half touchdowns on the way to a 17-14 victory over the New York Giants on Saturday night.

``I saw Wayne standing there with the defender's back to me, and he played possum until the ball was on top of him,'' Testaverde said. ``Then he stuck his hands up.''

Testaverde completed 12 of 17 passes for 148 yards in the first half and engineered an 81-yard first-quarter drive in 15 plays for the first touchdown allowed by the Giants (1-2) in three preseason games.

``Vinny made a great throw, the only spot he could put it for the play to work,'' Chrebet said. ``We made eye contact and we were able to score. That was a real credit to having played together so much. We knew what to expect from each other.''

Chrebet said if he had lifted his arms, Thomas would have lifted his and blocked the pass.

``He was right there, but he was vulnerable because his back was to the quarterback,'' Chrebet said.

Testaverde completed 24- and 15-yard passes to Laveranues Coles and a 17-yarder to Chrebet before Chrebet snatched the 4-yard pass with 1:05 left in the quarter.

In the second period, Testaverde's 23-yard pass to Coles to the 2 set up LaMont Jordan's 1-yard touchdown dive two plays later, giving the Jets (2-1) a 14-0 halftime lead.

``The offense took a step forward tonight,'' coach Herman Edwards said.

Although the Giants made it close in the second half, coach Jim Fassel was furious with the performance of the defending NFC champions.

``I'm not happy with any phase of the game,'' he said. ``I'm going to put a lot of pressure on everybody in the organization - the players and coaches. If you don't play hard, we're going to make changes. You bet I'll get their attention.''

Kerry Collins played into the third quarter for the Giants and led them to their first touchdown, with the help of Rodney Williams' 9-yard run on a fourth-and-4 fake punt. Collins, who was 15-for-24 for 184 yards, passed 18 yards to Joe Jurevicius to the 20, and the Giants ran it in from there, with Ron Dayne getting the final 7 for the touchdown that made it 14-7.

Collins said Fassell had good reason to be upset.

``We can't just say `It's preseason and who cares' and just forget about it,'' Collins said. ``I didn't really like the team's effort.''

John Hall's 42-yard field goal in the first minute of the fourth quarter extended the Jets' lead to 10, and the Giants made it close with a 15-play, 89-yard touchdown drive led by backup quarterback Jason Garrett.

Garrett converted three third-down plays in the drive, including third-and-goal from the 3 when he connected with Ron Dixon for the touchdown. On the previous play, Garrett's pass was intercepted by Tony Scott and returned 95 yards for an apparent touchdown, but the play was called back because the Jets had 12 men on the field.

After the touchdown made it 17-14, the Giants forced a punt and got the ball back at their 34 with 1:51 left. Third-string quarterback Jesse Palmer completed a fourth-down pass, but it fell short of a first down.

The Giants' best drive in the first half went from their 7 to the Jets 11 before the ball was knocked out of Dayne's hands back to the 30, where Collins recovered. A 10-yard penalty took the Giants out of field-goal range.