IRVING, Texas (AP) – Vinny Testaverde won’t guarantee that he’ll make it through the full 16-game season for the Dallas Cowboys.

That’s not going to stop coach Bill Parcells from relying heavily on the quarterback who turns 41 midway through the season and has played a full schedule only twice since the 1996 season.

“Everybody’s ready to put him in the cemetery,” Parcells said Wednesday. “I’m trying to dig him up.”

Parcells reunited with Testaverde this summer, bringing him to Dallas for an 18th NFL season to push Quincy Carter, who started every game and led the Cowboys to the playoffs last season.

When Carter was unexpectedly cut early in training camp, Testaverde became the starter. And the only experienced quarterback.

“Forget about my age. Any player, whether he’s 23 or 43, can get hurt and miss some games,” Testaverde said. “Not very many starting quarterbacks do make it through a full season, no matter what the age.”

Only 14 quarterbacks – less than half of the starters in the league – played every game last season.

That’s still Testaverde’s goal. And Parcells’ hope.

“You don’t want to burn out, but at the same time, you don’t want to not do enough and run out of gas,” Testaverde said. “You just go until you can’t go anymore, and hopefully that takes you through the whole season.”

Testaverde said Parcells still teases him about his age, just as he did when they were in New York in 1998. Testaverde had a Pro Bowl season (3,256 yards with 29 touchdowns and seven interceptions) and the Jets went to the AFC championship game.

Still, starting quarterbacks in their 40s are a rarity in the NFL. Those who succeed are even rarer.

Warren Moon defied age, throwing for 3,678 yards and 25 touchdowns during a Pro Bowl season for Seattle in 1997 when he was 41.

George Blanda was 48 when he retired, but his last nine seasons were as a kicker and backup quarterback, averaging just 26 passes per season. Johnny Unitas started the first four games for San Diego in 1973 at age 40 but was then benched and retired.

Testaverde hasn’t played a game since turning 40, having returned to a backup role for the Jets after Chad Pennington returned from injury last season.

Many expected Testaverde to retire after the Jets announced he wouldn’t go through offseason workouts. But that was never his plan.

Testaverde kept working out everyday on his own. He signed with Dallas in June, just days after being officially released by the Jets.

Parcells marvels at Testaverde’s conditioning and knows the quarterback is motivated by those who think he’s too old.

“At some point in time, everybody’s going to be right about that. The game is a young man’s game and we know that,” Parcells said. “I cited the example of Warren Moon being pretty successful at an older age than this, but there haven’t been many. … I personally feel that this guy’s physical condition allows him to have the chance to do that.”

Testaverde will start the final two exhibition games next week, even though the games are only three days apart – Monday night against Tennessee and Thursday against Kansas City.

“I think this guy needs work,” Parcells said. “I think I’m seeing him sharpen up.”

Testaverde is 17-of-24 for 158 yards, having played the equivalent of about three quarters the first two games. But the first-team offense hasn’t scored a touchdown, settling for field goals on all three possessions at Oakland on Saturday night.

“I feel pretty good,” he said. “I think just a few more snaps in preseason, I’ll be ready to go.”

Parcells said the arm is as strong as ever.

“The day before he dies, he’ll have it,” he said. “I think Vinny could have been a lot sharper than he started off in camp if he had played more the last few seasons.”

After playing every game for the Jets in 2000 and 2001, Testaverde became Pennington’s backup – a role Carter took over when he signed Tuesday with New York – and played just 12 games the past two seasons.

His last full season before that was 1996 in Baltimore, when he had career highs of 4,177 yards passing and 33 touchdowns and went to his first Pro Bowl.

Testaverde missed the last three games of 1997 with a knee injury and began his time in New York as the third quarterback.

He ruptured his Achilles’ tendon in the 1999 season opener against New England.

“Coach Parcells puts it best: If you let any old car sit, it’s not going to run very well, so you want to keep using it,” Testaverde said. “That’s the kind of mentality I have right now.”

It may not be the luxury model, but the Cowboys don’t think they have an old junker either.

AP-ES-08-25-04 1735EDT