06/26 — Long before the top high school football players from New York City and Long Island met in Tuesday evening's Empire Challenge at Hofstra’s Shuart Stadium, I huddled with Boomer Esiason in the pressbox. Among the multitude of topics we covered was the 2008 Jets.

“The biggest question for the New York Jets is who’s their quarterback?”

And with that million-dollar question, Esiason began his analysis.

“The defense, you know, is going to be vastly improved,” he said. “You know the offense is going to be vastly improved simply because Alan Faneca is now on the offensive line. It makes them immediately better and significantly better. You have to believe Mangold and Ferguson are going to be top-quality players — Mangold should be a Pro Bowler.”

Then Boom returned to his original question.

“Is it Clemens or is it Chad?”

Beats me, I thought. So I looked at my fellow Maryland alum and former newyorkjets.com regular contributor and turned the tables on him. Perhaps Boomer might be leaning one way or the other himself.

“I have no feeling either way right now because both of them are so bland that you don’t know what either one is thinking,” he said frankly. “All I know is Eric Mangini has put them in a highly competitive situation, and I think it’s a great thing for both of them and hopefully it will bring out the best in each one of them.”

During his NFL career, Esiason participated in a few quarterback competitions. He believes the best way to handle the situation is to take an assertive approach.

“If you want the job, you have to fight for it. That’s all there is to it,” he said. “You can’t worry about politics and all this other crap. If you want the job and you want to be the man and you want to lead your football team, then you have to go get it.”