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ALBANY, N.Y. – It has been 13 years since the Giants had a high-stakes training camp shootout for the starting quarterback job. In 1991, Phil Simms and Jeff Hostetler – the only two quarterbacks to win a Super Bowl in a Giants uniform – dueled for the top job under rookie head coach Ray Handley. After a summer-long competition in which neither player emerged as the obvious winner, Hostetler was named the starter.

The Giants currently have another clash for the game's most important position, and once again, the coach who will make the final decision is in his first season with the team.

Their personal skirmish makes them the two most closely-scrutinized players in camp. Every pass they complete, every mistake they make, will be magnified. Reporters will poll teammates for their thoughts and seek clues in quotes from the tight-lipped Coughlin.

The only certainty right now is that Warner vs. Manning will make training camp more interesting for everybody.

"I'm going to go in and prove to them I deserve to be a starter," Warner said. "I think that's the way any player has to approach it and when you're at the quarterback position, you have to go in there and say, hey, I'm going out there and compete well enough and get guys to follow you and play as well as you can possibly play and show your team, your teammates, the organization, the coaches what you can still do, what you can bring to the table and what you're capable of with the football team. You have to take the bull by the horns and run with it until somebody tells you different."

Manning isn't quite as loquacious, but he makes the same point.

"I'm going to compete for the starting job – my goal is to be the starter," Manning said after signing his six-year, $45 million contract on Thursday.

The Giants did have a quarterback competition in 1994, but the participants weren't nearly as skilled, nor the attraction nearly as great, as it is now. A month after Simms was released, Dave Brown and Kent Graham fought for the job. They were young players who had combined to throw 126 NFL passes (119 by Graham).

Then-coach Dan Reeves selected Brown as his starter to open the season. Both Brown and Graham had their moments in the NFL, but neither distinguished himself as more than a journeyman quarterback.

Warner and Manning are much bigger names in the football world and compete at a much higher level. The former was the NFL's Most Valuable Player in 1999 and 2001, the years in which he led the St. Louis Rams to the Super Bowl. Warner won the Super Bowl MVP Award after throwing for 424 yards, including the game-winning 73-yard touchdown pass to Isaac Bruce with 1:51 to play, in the Rams' victory over Tennessee in Super Bowl XXXIV. Warner's 97.2 passer rating is the best in NFL history among quarterbacks with at least 1,500 attempts.

Because Warner and Manning each has a high profile, their competition will be one of the most interesting job contests in any NFL camp this summer.

Of course, that doesn't interest Coughlin. He is more concerned that each quarterback – as well as backups Jesse Palmer and Ryan Van Dyke – learn the offense, make the correct reads and throw the ball accurately. Warner and Manning are splitting the first team snaps almost evenly.

"We'll see how it goes," Coughlin said. "They're fine right now. (But the new offense) is being thrown at them every second. No question, it's a challenging situation for any quarterback. All four of these kids are intelligent people. But it's a challenge any time you have a new system or you're a young player coming into the league."

When Simms and Hostetler fought for the job, they were hardly the best of friends, but civility reigned throughout the summer. Their personal relationship was cordial and each as cooperative with the media, with whom they often praised one another.

This year's contestants have indicated their competition will also lack acrimony.

"I'm going to go out and try to win this job and be the best player I can be." Warner said. "And I'm going to do everything I can to help everybody else here to become the best player they can be, period. If he's the better quarterback, then he should be the one playing, plain and simple. If I'm not as good, then I shouldn't be the one starting. You have to look at it from a team standpoint and say, `What's best for the New York Giants?'

"Of course, I'm going to try to prove that I'm that guy. I'm still going to do whatever I can to help him, whether it's in a starting role to get him ready for that, whether it's in a backup role to do whatever I can to help him solidify that position. That's my role. That's what I have to do. I'm not going to cover up my notes so he can't read them. It's not about that. It's about all of us being the best that we can be and carrying ourselves the way we believe we should carry ourselves."

Manning was asked if he "embraces" the competition with Warner.

"I'm looking forward to it," he said. "I think it's always good to have someone to push you. Obviously, he's there to push me. It's going to be a friendly competition. I'm not going to try to sabotage him or do anything bad. I talked to him and we're fine. I'm going to work hard and compete for the starting job.

"I think it will be good for me to learn from him, a guy that's been the MVP and won Super Bowls. He's been here and done everything, so I'm going to learn everything I can from him."

The two quarterbacks have little time to confer during Coughlin's up-tempo practices, but Manning said he keeps a close eye on his teammate, studying his reads and his throws.

Because of his experience, Warner is considered the favorite to win the job in the next six weeks. But Manning is the Giants' quarterback of the future.

"I think the guy has all the ability in the world," Warner said. "I think Eli is going to be a tremendous quarterback – he has physical skills, mentally I think he does a great job and understands how to play the game. Like a lot of guys it's just a matter of time, and you never know how long that's going to take. You have to get into the games, and a lot of times you're going to take bumps and bruises and ups and downs. That's part of the business, that's part of what it's about. But it really is just a matter of time with the ability he has before he steps in and becomes a great quarterback in this league."

Warner hopes that time is not 4 p.m. on Sept. 12.

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