Colleges flunking students in debt education

Some universities are giving their students a bad education in finance to foster relationships with banks.

That's according to a consumer advocate group's report to be released Monday at a Consumer Financial Protection Board (CFPB) hearing devoted to financial products offered on college campuses.

These schools, in seeking rewards from banks for exclusive debit-card marketing rights on their campuses, are failing in their role as financial gatekeepers.

They should be doing a better job of locking out financial predators who would soak students with high debit-card fees almost as soon as they start using their student IDs and access federal financial aid, according to the report released by the US Public Interest Research Group (US PIRG).

"Banks and other financial firms are taking advantage of a variety of opportunities to form partnerships with colleges and universities to provide campus student ID cards and to offer student aid disbursements on debit or prepaid cards," writes Rich Williams, a higher-education advocate, in the US PIRG report.

He notes these debit and credit cards, which are often known as affinity cards, impress students because they carry the college insignia.

Even students who don't want these debit cards, US PIRG officials say, often get them. That's because these cards are often used when students have received more in student aid than they owe in tuition for a quarter, and the difference is provided through a card.

Colleges often receive bonuses from the card companies for allowing them to be the exclusive provider on a campus.

However, students end up "bearing some costs directly — including per-swipe fees, inactivity fees, overdraft fees and more," according to the study.

Indeed, the study documents that college-age young people — 18 to 25 — tend to pay the most debit card overdraft fees.

The report called for more federal involvement in the selling of financial products to college students.

But an official of the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO), in his letter to the CFPB, urged regulators to study the issue and understand that the banking market is complex.

"Different student bodies have varying needs and preferences. For example, our members report that students at community colleges often arrive without existing banking relationships or may even be ineligible to open an account on their own due to pre-existing circumstances. Additionally, CFPB should not assume that all college students are 'young consumers,'" according to John Walda, president and CEO of NACUBO.

"Student demographics," he added, "show that traditional students, those 18 to 22 years old, are a declining proportion of college students; those over 24 or financially independent from their parents are fast becoming the majority population of college students."

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Lavin says St. John’s can be ‘special’

Steve Lavin has set the same three goals for his St. John's basketball team each year: win the Big East regular season title, the conference's postseason crown and reach the NCAA Tournament.

For the first time, he feels all three are realistically attainable.

"This is a year where we're positioned to do something special," Lavin said Saturday at the third annual "Dribble for the Cure," a benefit for the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation at St. John's. "We expect that, too. We probably have even higher expectations than people outside the program because that's why we all came here. That's why I came as a head coach. That's why [junior shooting guard D'Angelo Harrison] came from Houston. That's why we put together this group."

Expectations are sky-high for the Queens program, which is looking for its first NCAA Tournament berth since 2011, Lavin's first season, and first victory since 2000.

This season will be unlike any of Lavin's previous three. His first year there were no expectations, and his team of seniors made a surprising run to the NCAAs, snapping a nine-year drought. The ensuing season, the team was made up of mostly freshmen and lacked the needed depth to compete in the rugged Big East. Last year, the Johnnies still were young, but reached the NIT and finished with a 16-15 record.

St. John's has added key pieces in Philadelphia freshman point guard Rysheed Jordan, a five-star recruit ranked among the top high school seniors in the country a year ago; Harvard transfer Max Hooper, a sharpshooter who hit 10 3-pointers in an exhibition game during the team's trip to Europe over the summer; and versatile big man Orlando Sanchez, who became eligible after the NCAA granted him an age waiver. Furthermore, red-shirt senior God'sgift Achiuwa is active after sitting out last season, and the entire team returns aside from reserve forward Amir Garrett, who transferred to Cal State-Northridge.

"This is why I came to St. John's, for a team like this," said sophomore forward JaKarr Sampson, the Big East Rookie of the Year last winter. "We have all the pieces."

Vastly improved depth — a weakness the past two years, but now a strength — should give Lavin plenty of flexibility, offering him the option to go small or play big, press and trap.

"Our [top] 10 players can probably start on any roster [in the country]," said Harrison, the Johnnies' leading scorer a year ago who is back after being suspended by Lavin for the team's final six games last season because of behavioral issues. "Having that depth and being able to just expend your energy on things you need to do because you know somebody just as good is coming in for you, that's just great to have."

"We can have about eight, nine guys in double figures this year. We have two or three guys at every position."

The addition of Jordan should free up experienced guards like Harrison and Phil Greene IV to play off the ball, their forte, rather than initiating the offense. The freshman already has impressed his teammates and the St. John's coaching staff with his basketball IQ and ability to create opportunities for himself and others.

"He's as impressive as any player I've had at this stage in his career in space," Lavin said. "If you just kind of space the floor, his ability to break ankles, as they say, get to the paint, the cup or kick, is exceptional."

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Time to marvel at Brodeur, while we can

There will be one more emotional sendoff, though even the grand goodbye that awaits Derek Jeter might not carry the emotional weight of Mariano Rivera's remarkable Bronx farewell.

But we have another special athlete who may very well be on his final tour and who deserves the love as much as his legendary brothers in pinstripes.

Nobody has been here longer than Martin Brodeur, who first showed up in New Jersey in the spring of 1992 before returning to stay in the autumn of 1993, almost two years before Jeter and Rivera (and Andy Pettitte) became Yankees.

Nobody has had a more distinguished career than Brodeur, who has played to a level of excellence over the past two decades achieved by few for even a single season, and nobody ever has been more identifiable with his team than this Devils' goaltender.

He is a Devil the way Mantle was a Yankee, the way Reed was a Knick, the way Gifford was a Giant and Seaver a Met, Namath a Jet, Potvin an Islander, Gilbert a Ranger.

If he played in Manhattan, he would have a candy bar named after him. Across the Hudson, he has his name on the Stanley Cup three times and scrawled all over the NHL record book.

You've got to be pretty darn special for a league's governing body to create a rule in order to negate a strength. The NCAA instituted a no-dunk rule (later, of course, dunked itself) in the '60s in order to cut the then-named Lew Alcindor down to size. The trapezoid on NHL rinks is an invention first contemplated in order to neutralize Brodeur's puck-moving skills.

This is a time of sadness for Brodeur, his family and friends as they mourn the passing of his father, Denis Brodeur. It was always a pleasure to interact with the elder Brodeur, the great sports photographer and goaltender on Canada's 1952 Silver Medal winning Olympic Team, and it always was impossible to tell who was more proud of the other, the father or the son.

Martin Brodeur, the French Canadian who became Marty Brodeur along the Turnpike to immortality, has not said this will be his final season. He may not know and he may not divulge his decision even when he makes it.

And so we don't know. We don't know how many more chances we're going to get to watch him, enjoy him and revel in this singular athlete who has played more years for the Devils than anyone else ever has played for any one of our teams.

There will be no appreciation tour across the NHL's landscape to mimic baseball's unprecedented six-month recognition of Rivera. But it will be your loss if you fail to appreciate Brodeur, who plays as a 41-year-old with the same zeal and joy he did at half that age.

We have become accustomed to having legends in our midst. Now we are becoming accustomed to bidding them farewell.

Icons: They come and they go.

We don't know if this will be it for Brodeur, but we do know time is growing short and growing near, and there is no time like the present to pay homage to the kind of a sports landmark you get once in a lifetime.

***

Mark the NHLPA as a co-conspirator in last week's Sabres-Maple Leafs gong show in Toronto for its continued support of the small segment of sluggos in the population at the expense of the more skilled athletes whose roster spots they are claiming.

What code?

And how about the NHL fining Buffalo coach Ron Rolston for "team conduct and player selection" for sending John Scott onto the ice before the slow-footed enforcer jumped Phil Kessel?

Honestly, where was the league on the issue of player selection when John Tortorella had Derek Dorsett, Kris Newbury, Micheal Haley, Steve Eminger and Roman Hamrlik on the ice as a five-man unit with the score tied 1-1 — but not for long — in last year's elimination Game 5 in Boston?

We only kid the ones we love.

***

The Stampede's second annual Kenny Cup will be played at 4:30 on Oct. 5 in Bridgeport prior to the AHL Sound Tigers' opener against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Proceeds from the charity event go to research at the Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in the memory of Ken Dressler.

***

Cory Schneider, meanwhile, who will be the Devils' co-No. 1 with Brodeur, is the most important offseason acquisition in the NHL, and yes, that includes the Panthers' signing of free agent Scott Gomez.

PA executive director Don Fehr — you all remember him? — informed membership last week "to expect little or no return" on last season's 16.26-percent escrow deduction.

This means the players wound up with approximately 49 cents on the dollar for their work last season, already having lost a large chunk of dough to the 48-game season.

So we received a press release about Proskauer-Rose's role in the sale of the Panthers, and we can all rest easy knowing the new ownership will be the first to know the details of the next lockout.

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No need to cook the books on Walter White

Walter White has helped Sony and AMC make out like bandits.

"Breaking Bad," which ends its 5-season run Sunday, has helped fill numerous lockers with cash for both companies.

Sony Pictures TV, which owns the franchise, has sold the TV show in 200 countries, and there are plans to remake the shocking drug-themed drama for Spanish language station Univision.

Our international TV contacts suggest that the show may have banked as much as $300 million just in straight sales of Season 1.

For AMC, the benefit has been just as positive, though more difficult to quantify.

While "Breaking Bad" isn't the only hot show on AMC, ad revenue rose from $214 million, to $311 million, between 2011 when it went public and 2013.

Advertisers have also flocked to the show about a math teacher turned meth maker. "Breaking Bad" attracted just 24 advertisers in Season 1, while 60 companies have jumped on the Season 5 bandwagon.

And let's not forget how many people turned to Netflix to catch up on all the seasons they missed.

One indication of how much more popular the show got between Seasons 4 and 5: Facebook likes jumped from 1.38 million, to 5.6 million.

We're sure Walter and Jesse will be breaking records as well as hearts when Nielsen numbers come out Monday and the series ends its run.

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Holmes’ hair gets down to business

Katie Holmes' gorgeous mane is helping to boost sales for New York-based beauty brand Alterna Haircare.

Holmes signed on as an owner of ,and ambassador for, Alterna, which launched its first global advertising campaign earlier this year and has just launched a campaign in which Holmes promotes über- luxury, "anti-aging" hair products called Caviar.

The 17-year-old company moved to New York from California in November to be closer to the beauty industry, and to "put a face to the brand."

Holmes was a natural choice, both because she transformed her life and because she is a 34-year-old mother who is gorgeous, fashionable and lives in New York, says Alterna CEO Joan Malloy.

Holmes also has her own fashion company, Holmes & Yang, and presents during Fashion Week.

Holmes signed a three-year contract to be the voice and face of the brand, and is working closely with the company on holiday fragrances for 2014.

Since Holmes signed on, the company has doubled its business in Sephora in the last three years.

Sources say the brand is approaching $100 million in retail sales, a number that may increase by $15 million to $20 million in the next year.

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Tight spot: Jets’ Winslow eyes bounce-back game

Rex Ryan and Kellen Winslow Jr. insist they're not the least bit worried about the Jets tight end's declining production since his impressive season opener. They say defenses have adjusted to take him away, which has opened things up for other players. But they say his time is coming.

"I'd blame it square on Marty [Mornhinweg]'s shoulders — put him under the bus,'' Ryan joked Friday of his offensive coordinator. "But no, they certainly know where Kellen is, I'll put it that way. [Defenses] know where Kellen is, and if I would've had my little TV thing up here, I could've showed you what I meant by it.

"But he allowed one-on-one's [for receivers] on the outside. He has done a tremendous job for us. The guy works his tail off on the practice field. [He's] a great teammate, but a very unselfish guy, and I think that's really impressed me. I know it's impressed his teammates as well.''

Getting targeted eight times in the season opener, Winslow caught seven passes for 79 yards and a touchdown. Targeted six times in Week 2 at New England, he caught three passes for 16 yards, and quarterback Geno Smith didn't throw his way once last Sunday. Asked if defenses have keyed on him since his big game against Tampa Bay, Winslow shrugged.

"I guess,'' Winslow said. "Sometimes the ball just goes different ways. But it always evens out eventually. I would say they're trying to jam me and stuff like that, but it's man-to-man, it's cover two or cover three. It's not like I'm triple-teamed. They're just trying to get their hands on me, and that gets other guys open.

"It evens out though, and we proved we can stretch the field, so guys can't just sit low on us. They're going to be scared to get run past. … It's all about attempts and making plays. So when it comes my way, my job is to make a play. It's coming, so I'm ready.''

It might come his way Sunday. After coughing up a team-record 471 points last season, the Titans scrapped their old defensive system and now play man-to-man on nearly every down. After they allowed San Diego's Antonio Gates five catches for 55 yards and a touchdown last weekend, Winslow could see chances in Tennessee.

"They play man-to-man the whole game and they rely on their front seven to get pressure,'' said Winslow, who is 57 receiving yards shy of 5,000. "They're coming after the quarterback and they're going to live and die by man-to-man. It's our job to be men and make plays for Geno, or whoever is in there.

"They're attack mode on defense and man-to-man. As long as we protect, we'll be fine. We just have to protect Geno and guys have to get open, we'll be fine and make plays.''

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Cuba to let athletes sign with overseas teams

HAVANA — Could a new wave of Cuban baseball players be headed for the majors in America without having to defect from the communist island?

Cuba announced Friday that athletes from all sports will soon be able to sign contracts with foreign leagues, a break with a decades-old policy that held pro sports to be anathema to socialist ideals.

It's a step toward the day when the road from Havana to Yankee Stadium might mean simply hopping on a plane rather than attempting a perilous sea crossing or sneaking out of a hotel at midnight in a strange land.

But American baseball fans shouldn't throw their Dodgers or Rockies caps in the air in celebration just yet. The Cold War-era embargo against Cuba means it may not happen anytime soon.

If it does come to pass, it could increase — astronomically, in some cases — the amount of money Cuban baseball players can earn.

Athletes' wages are not made public in Cuba but are believed to be somewhere around the $20 a month that most other state employees earn — a tiny fraction of the millions many U.S. big-leaguers make.

"It's the dream of many athletes to test themselves in other leagues — the big leagues, if at some point my country would allow it," said Yasmani Tomas, who is one of Cuba's top talents, batting .345 last season with the powerhouse Havana Industriales.

Under the new policy, athletes will be eligible to play abroad as long as they fulfill their commitments at home, the Communist Party newspaper Granma reported. For baseball players, that means being available for international competitions as well as Cuba's November-to-April league.

President Raul Castro's government clearly hopes the move will stem defections by athletes who are lured abroad by the possibility of lucrative contracts, a practice that saps talent from Cuba's teams.

"I think this could help stop the desertions a little bit," said Yulieski Gourriel, a talented 29-year-old third baseman who batted .314 last year for Sancti Spiritus.

"I don't even want to talk about how much I've been offered, because every time we leave the country, there are these offers. I've never paid attention because I've always said I'm not interested."

A number of his countrymen, however, are interested.

Cuban defectors now in the majors include Yasiel Puig, who signed a seven-year, $42 million contract with the Dodgers and had a sensational rookie season, helping Los Angeles win its division. Aroldis Chapman, the hard-throwing reliever, is making just over $5 million a year with the Cincinnati Reds.

If the policy change comes to pass, "it's good for Cuba, for everybody, for the players — more people in the big leagues, more experience for international tournaments," said Milwaukee Brewers infielder Yuniesky Betancourt, a Cuban defector who left his homeland aboard a speedboat in 2003.

Professional sports were essentially done away with under Fidel Castro in 1961, two years after the Cuban revolution, and athletes became state employees just like factory workers and farmhands.

Sport as private enterprise was deemed incompatible with the Marxist society Castro intended to create. In 2005, he railed against the "parasites that feed off the athlete's hard work" in professional sports.

Friday's announcement is part of a trend toward relaxing that stance under Castro's brother, who became president in 2006.

Earlier this year, Cuba ended a five-decade ban on professional boxing, joining an international semipro league where fighters compete for sponsored teams and earn $1,000 to $3,000 a month.

Still, the biggest obstacle to, say, Tomas' likeness showing up on a bobblehead doll in a major league park someday may lie not in Cuba, but in the U.S.

Granma reported that Cuban athletes will have to pay taxes on any earnings from foreign clubs, an apparent conflict with the 51-year-old American embargo that outlaws nearly all U.S. transactions with Cuba unless they are specifically licensed by Washington.

The economic restrictions were imposed after Cuba nationalized American businesses and aligned itself with the Soviet Union. They have been kept in place to try to pressure the authoritarian country to allow its people more freedom.

"Our policy has not changed. Cuban players need to be unblocked by a license from the Office of Foreign Assets Control in order to play for the MLB," said John Sullivan, spokesman for the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control. "In order to qualify, the players must prove that they have permanent residency outside of Cuba."

Another complication: Major League Baseball and its players union would have to decide whether Cuban ballplayers would be able to sign as free agents or would have to go through the international draft that baseball hopes to start in 2017.

Even if Cubans have trouble playing in the U.S., they might still be able to take the field in Mexico, Japan, Venezuela or other countries during their offseason, something that has happened before in a few instances.

Also Friday, Granma announced raises for island athletes, including bonuses for individual and team achievement. For example, in baseball, league leaders in hitting and other categories will get an extra $41. The team that wins the title will split $2,700.

That's small change by big-league standards, but sizeable in Cuba.

"The pay raise is going to be a big help. It was time," Tomas said. "I think if we'd done it even earlier, some athletes would not have left."

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Giants entire season on the line in Week 4

The Giants are facing the end Sunday in Kansas City.

They don't want to concede as much and that's understandable. But if the sheer desperation of the moment is not enough to drive the 0-3 Giants to their first victory of the year when they play the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium, then their 2013 season will unofficially end in Kansas City at virtually the same time of day the Yankees' playoff-less disappointment will come to its official end in Houston.

From the outside looking in, it does not look good for the Giants Sunday, and that means it does not look good for the rest of the season. Two of their offensive line starters — guard Chris Snee and center David Baas — were ruled out Friday with injuries and a third key piece, tackle David Diehl, is very iffy to play. Adding to the malaise, the Giants' high-priced left tackle Will Beatty was a turnstile trying to block for Eli Manning last week.

On top of all this, Arrowhead Stadium is one of the loudest, most difficult road stadiums for a weakened offensive line to play in.

So, after a week when the Panthers teed off on Manning up as their personal punching bag in a 38-0 shellacking, beware of the hungry Chiefs on Sunday. Kansas City, 3-0, has been resting and practicing for 10 days since its last game.

Given all these issues, Manning might be in for another run for his life.

But this is for sure: The Giants cannot go 0-4 and expect to make the playoffs.

Since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970, only one team — the 1992 Chargers — started a season 0-4 and made it to the playoffs, going 11-5 and winning the AFC West.

One team in 43 years. Do the math — 0-4 means it's over. It means 0-for-the-last-two-postseasons since they won the Super Bowl three years ago.

A Giants loss Sunday ends not only their realistic playoff chances, but it surely ends the way we have known this team for the last few years, dating back to its second Super Bowl win in five years.

It surely will lead to an eventual change in personnel, possibly with fading core veterans such as defensive end Justin Tuck gone and playmakers such as Hakeem Nicks not re-signed. Perhaps, too, some of Tom Coughlin's coaching staff takes a scapegoat hit and — we cannot rule this out however unlikely it seems — Coughlin possibly does not come back.

A more intimidating factor than all of the above is the fact the Giants' margin for error is almost nonexistent. They are walking on a tightrope without a net below. That makes for excruciating pressure. How will this team handle it?

"We can't worry about being 0-4. If we go in there with that mindset then we're already at a disadvantage,'' Giants safety Antrel Rolle said Friday.

"This is a must win, let's make no mistake about it,'' Giants safety Ryan Mundy said. "We need this game. We need to get back on track and start stacking some wins.''

The Giants have to start with one, save their season for the moment on Sunday and move on from there.

Coughlin, who many incorrectly perceive as always dour and disciplining, sensed the gravity of the situation and was upbeat all week in an effort to raise his players' spirits for Sunday.

"If you start dwelling on all that [negative] stuff … they are young athletes and the main thing is you don't want people tied up; they've got to go play,'' Coughlin said. "They're not going to be successful unless they come out of their shell and play and don't worry about it. Let me worry about the errors and what to say. You go play the game. I'll take it on my shoulders. That's been the way we've approached it.

"It's easy to stay down and feel sorry for yourself. The difficult thing is to come back and stand up and be positive and try to inspire people to overcome the obstacles … and to do it as one.''

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Shady antique shop staffers ‘tricked tourist into $1M sale’

It's the "Antiques Road Show"-turned-horror flick.

Shady staffers at a Manhattan collectibles emporium tricked an elderly Ohio tourist into forking over more than a $1 million for miniature statues worth a fraction that, a new Manhattan federal lawsuit alleges.

Retiree Priscilla Janney-Pace, 68, of Yellow Springs was visiting New York City in January 2012 when she noticed some figurines in the window of Metropolitan Fine Arts & Antiques on West 57th Street and went inside to ask about them, states the suit, which was filed Friday.

The store's president and CEO, Samuel Morano, personally tended to Pace, telling her the statues were Japanese figurines known as Netsukes that were produced in the 17th century, the documents say.

Convinced that she was purchasing highly coveted antiques, Janney-Price bought several figurines for tens of thousands of dollars — and returned in February to snap up a few more, according to the lawsuit.

Sensing they had a live one with deep pockets, store staffers then began inundating Janney-Price with e-mail and telephone sales pitches in an attempt to sell her additional items, according to court papers.

Store representatives laid it on thick, telling the retiree that business was suffering and that they could really use her patronage, the suit claims.

They even send her boxes of chocolates and traveled to her winter home in Florida to make sales pitches in person, court papers state.

In March, staffer Irving Morano told Janney-Price that he was selling carvings made from woolly-mammoth tusks, the suit alleges.

"I hate to impose on you, but I can really use some business and am willing to make huge sacrifices," store manager David Cohen told her, according to court papers.

It's unclear whether Janney-Pace ever bought those carvings.

But her lawyer, Paul Cossu, told The Post on Friday: "The defendants engaged in a series of egregiously fraudulent sales to an elderly woman, in which the defendants lied about the origin, age, quality, and value of what they claimed to be antique ivory and jade drawings.''

By the time Janney-Price finally put her credit card down, she had been relieved of more than $1 million for what she assumed were museum-quality sculptures.

That was most of her retirement money, Cossu said.

Janney-Price's daughter eventually caught wind of her mom's expenditures and took the items to an appraiser who gave her the bad news — the items were all Chinese reproductions and worth about $100,000 total, the suit states.

Cossu said the store slips into crafty paperwork that its sales refunds are limited.

Janney-Price is seeking more than $1 million in compensatory damages, Cossu said.

The gallery declined comment to The Post on Friday.

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Giants not overlooking Chiefs QB Alex Smith

OK, Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith is not Peyton Manning.

But he's not exactly JaMarcus Russell, either.

"He's a very, very good, experienced veteran quarterback who is being utilized for his legs as well as his mind and his arm," Giants coach Tom Coughlin said of Smith, a guy who has led the Chiefs to a 3-0 start, a guy the Giants look to upend Sunday in Kansas City.

"He's very effective. This year particularly he has a high completion percentage," safety Ryan Mundy said. "He's getting the ball out quick. Not taking many sacks and he has playmakers around him."

So no, Smith is not Eli's big brother or Tony Romo or even Cam Newton, the three guys that have helped to push the Giants into an 0-3 ditch, a situation that causes Sunday's get together to be "a must win," according to Mundy.

But what Smith is, in addition to all of the nice things the Giants called him, is the owner of the second-best winning percentage among active quarterbacks since 2011. At 23-5-1 for an .810 winning mark, Smith ranks behind just Peyton Manning (16-3, .842). New England's Tom Brady (28-7, .800) is third.

"He's just a very precise quarterback. He doesn't make a lot of mistakes," cornerback Prince Amukamara said. "He's just a precise quarterback. Doesn't try to do too much, doesn't do too little."

This season, the 3-0 Chiefs have not committed a turnover. The Titans are the only other team that can say the same. So Smith, the Chiefs second leading rusher behind Jamaal Charles, hasn't fumbled or thrown an interception.

"Over the years, he really has had a successful career," Coughlin said. "He does a good job in taking care of the ball. He will pull the ball down and run and they run the option and do those kinds of things."

Though the Giants have had some past success against Smith — they beat his 49ers, 20-17, in the 2011 NFC championship game and then intercepted him three times last season — they cannot go into Sunday's game thinking Smith is a break for them.

"Absolutely not," said safety Antrel Rolle, who came away with two of the interceptions the Giants managed when they snuffed the Niners, 26-3, last Oct. 14. "I wouldn't know where that [thinking] comes from. The guy is 3-0. Their team is 3-0. They're playing really good football right now.

"He's a gifted athlete. The system suits him well," Rolle continued about Smith, who has completed 61 percent of his passes and thrown for an average of 223 yards per.

Again, not Peyton. But not Alex in Blunderland, either.

"They have multiple playmakers they can distribute the ball to," Rolle said. "That makes them a 3-0 football team."

Giants defensive coordinator Perry Fewell said Smith does "an excellent job of taking what the defense gives him" and praised the Chiefs' running game that complements the quarterback so "he doesn't feel pressured into making bad decisions.

"He will pull the ball down and run it so he's got five option, plus his legs," Fewell said.

The zero turnovers through three games is an area the Giants want to attack.

"We need this game," Mundy said, stressing the need for forcing turnovers. "We need to capitalize. If we have opportunities [for interceptions] we need to catch the ball. If the ball's on the turf we need to recover the ball."

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