Steeler Nation Has Spoken...

Peter King heard every word and didn't care.

As if I thought I'd be the only one to weigh in on his ratings...apparently he got quite the reaction via email - including 3 out of 12 cited in his follow up article today (see link above). May not seem like much but I have a feeling Peter was reading way more emails from Steeler fans than even this can reflect.

Oh well, for all that, he still says he thinks Ben is inconsistent and won't believe differently until he sees it. I guess he had his eyes closed in both 2004 and 2005...but by my account he's pretty much got his head up his ass so even if they were open they'd probably be no use.

DISCLAIMER - Peter King, or anyone who is a Peter King sympathizer - Most of the statements I have made are hyperbole. Still, I think you're way off, and should retract your rating of Ben Roethlisberger. Also, it is 2007 and you just have to face the fact that everyone has an opinion and they are no longer afraid to unleash them upon the world via the interweb. Adapt or die (figuratively of course).

Has The Whole World Gone Crazy?? Part II...

Yes, we're talking this stupid top QB list from Peter King again...

Because, an "Anonymous" commenter aptly raised an issue with my post yesterday evening - What do I think? I kind of danced around it because frankly, and I don't know if it came across or not, yesterday was one of the most worthless days my brain has had in a long time. Probably the product of a heavy weekend emphasis on binge drinking (consequently I'm getting too old for that shit).

Nonetheless, I thought that in response, I would attempt to re-rank the NFL's 32 would-be starting QBs to my own liking.

Now keep in mind, unlike Peter King, I'm looking at both the QBs current situation as well as their body of work as a whole in the NFL. Sounds kind of like a paradox, but you'll understand as you see where I rank certain players.

Here's how I would break it down:

1. Tom Brady
2. Peyton Manning
3. Drew Brees
4. Marc Bulger
5. Carson Palmer (I guess...reluctantly)
6. Brett Favre (again, think about the body of work as a whole...he's in a bad situation currently, but he's done enough...)
7. Ben Roethlisberger
8. Philip Rivers (although I'm not a true believer yet - needs to show me one more full season)
9. Jake Delhomme (I understand the concern and why they'd bring in David Carr but I think Delhomme will have a better go-round this year)
10. Matt Hasselbeck
11. Steve McNair
12. Chad Pennington
13. Vince Young
14. Donovan McNabb
15. Eli Manning
16. Jon Kitna
17. Jeff Garcia (yeah, I said it...)
18. Trent Green
19. Alex Smith
20. JP Losman
21. Michael Vick
22. Matt Leinart
23. Jason Campbell
24. Tony Romo
25. Jay Cutler
26. Rex Grossman
27. Byron Leftwich
28. Matt Schaub
29. Charlie Frye
30. Josh McCown
31. Tavaris Jackson
32. Brody Croyle (though I think he has good potential to quickly climb this list after 2007-2008)

Honestly though, I'm not convinced this would be my final answer. There were a lot of spots where I spent significant time going over in my head who I thought belonged. I guess what I'm saying is - this is a lot harder than it seems.

Still, Peter King's assesment is off, mine is better...I am the greatest. Feel free to tell me how wrong I am, I don't really care.

Has The Whole World Gone Crazy??

Or is it just Peter King?

I don't know that I've ever really taken Peter King seriously, but either way, King continues to make a case for insanity via his most recent "Monday Morning QB" column, in which he ranks the would-be starting QBs for all NFL franchises, 1-32.

So where does Big Ben rank? The answer - a less than impressive #17. Crazy, I know! But if you think that's nuts, wait until you hear who he ranks ahead of Ben.

Here they are (in actual ranking order - ie I'm not making this up):

• #6 Matt Hasselbeck - How many TDs did he have in Super Bowl XL again? Oh yeah, one, I remember.


• #7 Vince Young - For the record I have nothing against Vince Young, but umm...he's only played one half of a season as a starter, so how can you rank him 10 spots ahead of Big Ben?


• #9 Jon Kitna - Enough said.


• #10 Jay Cutler - Another guy who has yet to complete a full season, but also a guy who had some rough spots out of the gate when named starter this past November.


• #11 Tony Romo - See #10 and #7. Also, reference NFC Wild Card game.


• #12 Donovan McNabb - Admittedly, this might be due to some prior bias on my part, but I really just don't think McNabb is that great of a QB. He throws pretty good 5 yard outs to Brian Westbrook in the flat but I don't think of him as one of the league's elite, now or at any point during his career. Certainly not while pissing away a real shot at winning a Super Bowl...


• #15 Chad Pennington - Wasn't it just one year ago that this guy was competing with Patrick Ramsey and (one could argue) Kellen Clemens for his starting position?

So I guess you could say I wasn't exactly satisfied with this assessment. I mean, I could understand not ranking Ben in the top 10, but really it was more who he ranked higher that surprised me. Seems to me like Peter King is a little out of touch with reality. Or maybe I'm wrong. What do you think??