Back at Hofstra awaiting Eric Mangini’s presser in the aftermath of yesterday’s 20-13 loss at Baltimore. Baited breath time.

First, a little explanation on why there was no post-game post last night. Us media types were given parking passes for Lot F, which was, literally, on the other side of the tracks. The scouting report was it was best not to walk back to your car alone. So rather than posting, I decided to walk out with Dan Leberfeld of Jets Confidential and Hutch from the Star-Ledger. Not sure which one of us would have been the muscle, if need be. Luckily, we didn’t have to find out.

All I can say is, I wouldn’t have had much burst or engine if I had to run for it.

As for today, no doubt, Mangini will repeat many – if not all – of his post-game comments, in which the only real thing of note he said (and the only thing he said with any real fire) was that he was going to fix the special teams problem after Yamon Figurs returned a kickoff 61 yards, which, of course, comes on the heels of Ellis Hobbs 108-yard return in the 38-14 loss to the Patriots Week 1.

Mangini said, if he had to, he would rip through his entire roster looking for the best 11 guys to play and it wouldn’t matter the player’s stature on the team. Without refering to my notes, I’m pretty sure he mentioned at least Vilma by name as a guy that might be eligible for speciial teams duty, but not in a way to single out Vilma, just to make the point that starters were eligible.

Hopefully, Chad Pennington won’t be on that list.

I saw somebody asked whether I thought Chad or Kellen Clemens would be the starter Sunday against the Dolphins. I’m 100 percent certain that Pennington gets back in there as soon as he’s deemed healthy. I’m assuming that would be this week. My take is the real quarterback controversy will begin in the next training camp, when Mangini holds an open competition between Pennington and Clemens for the starter’s job.

And I definitely could see Clemens winning the job going into 2008.

But that has no bearing on the rest of 2007 and Pennington’s veteran presence still gives the Jets the best chance to win consistently.

Also, just looking at the defensive numbers, the Jets weren’t terrible yesterday even if they couldn’t apply any pressure on Kyle Boller. The Jets actually outgained the Ravens, 304-303, though a large chunk of the Jets’ yards came in the fourth quarter. Both teams went 8 for 18 on third downs (44 percent) and while the Ravens outrushed the Jets, 118-68 (it’s obviously not all Thomas Jones’ fault – he’s not finding holes because the line isn’t creating them), that just means the Jets outpassed Baltimore, 235-185.

Mangini should be in momentarily but I’ll be back with some more thoughts later. Unless, of course, I need to escort anybody to their car in the Hofstra parking lot.