Shanahan’s glad he’s got an extra preseason game. Coughlin wants to extend his final-preseason-game streak. And Marino and Favre limber up one more time before launching a quest for records.

All that and more is on the schedule as the NFL plays its final preseason week beginning this Thursday.

Next stop: Kickoff ’99 on September 12. But first…

Teams must cut their rosters to 65 players today, with the expansion Cleveland Browns allowed 70 players. The final cutdown is next Sunday, September 5, with 53 players the limit. The Browns will be allowed 56 through the third week of the regular season.

Roster cutdown is always tough, even if you’ve won the past two Super Bowls.

That’s why Denver Broncos head coach MIKE SHANAHAN, seeking an unprecedented third consecutive Super Bowl title this year, is glad to be playing a fifth preseason game this week while most teams are in their fourth.

Denver played in the Australian American Bowl on August 7, accounting for its extra game.

"We’ve never had as many guys fighting for a position," says Shanahan in explaining why he’s pleased with a fifth game. "When you have as many draft choices and free agents as we’ve had, you always like to see them in game situations."

That "game situation" Friday night will be a tough one for the Broncos and their new starting quarterback, two-year veteran BRIAN GRIESE. They host the San Francisco 49ers, the winningest team of the ’90s (109-35, .757). It will be the 11th preseason game between the teams in the past 12 years (San Francisco leads, 6-4).

TOM COUGHLIN, head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars, doesn’t have a fifth preseason game, but he will be going for a "fifth" record when Jacksonville visits Dallas Thursday night.

The Jaguars have won every one of their final preseason games since their 1995 expansion year. In those four seasons, they have parlayed that success into three playoff berths.

"We use preseason games to prepare ourselves for the season," says Coughlin. "It’s the mentality of winning, the attitude, that we’re after."

In Green Bay on Thursday night, two quarterbacks who will be going after records this season – one for yardage, the other for consistency -- square off when the Packers host the Miami Dolphins.

Miami’s DAN MARINO can become the first quarterback to throw for 60,000 career yards in ’99. That is the equivalent of 34.1 miles. The 17-year veteran needs 1,087 yards to accomplish the feat.

The Packers’ BRETT FAVRE can set an NFL record for consecutive quarterback starts since 1970 this season. With eight starts, Favre will break the record of 116 games established by Philadelphia’s RON JAWORSKI from 1977-84.

Other games this week include:

• CLEVELAND at PHILADELPHIA (Thursday): The top two selections of the 1999 NFL Draft meet – quarterbacks TIM COUCH of the Browns and DONOVAN MC NABB of the Eagles.

• NEW YORK GIANTS at BALTIMORE (Friday): Teams play a rare daytime preseason game. Kickoff is at 12:00 PM ET.

• MINNESOTA at NEW YORK JETS (Friday): Matchup of two ’98 Championship Game teams.