If you recall, last year this timeI did not take to kindly to Pete Prisco's 2006 top 50 NFL players listing. In fact, I got so mad that I ended up creating the Screw Pete Prisco Top 50 NFL players list. Hey, it was the off-season and I was bored.

This year, Pete once again has his Top 50. He redeems himself somewhat listing guys like Kerry Rhodes and Nnamdi Asomugha while leaving schmucks like Randy Moss off the list. He does list Shawn Merriman in the top 10 though, which is crap. Anyone caught cheating has no business being on a best of list unless there's a "Athelete with the Highest Testosterone in his Stool" category. Pete also has Walter Jones and Jonathan Ogden on the list, but no Tarik Glenn who is better than both of Jones and Ogden hands down.

However, despite Pete's little lapses, I do not plan to pimp slap him again this year. Why? Because his recent article ranking the most over-rated and under-rated players in the league is damn near close to perfect. I swear to God, Pete Prisco is reading this site, and my opinions have somehow brainwashed him into my greatest disciple.

Pete Prisco is now under my control.

Here are some examples:
Interesting. I say this because this is what I've said about McGahee for some time. He stinks, hands down. He's also a complete idiot, and contrary to popular belief you need at least a fourth grade education to play football. I doubt Willis can even color within the lines. My opinion is, of course, shared by BrianG at Buffalo Rumblings. But, it was not Pete's assessment of McGahee that had me giggling with glee:

As we speak, Terry is traveling at top speed to wherever Pete Prisco lives. In the back of Terry's truck is some duct tape, razor wire, and a Tony Romo-autographed issue of People Magazine, which Terry plans to stuff down Pete's throat.

Despite Terry's romosexual love for Tony, the opinions on Stampede Blue regarding the Cowboys' QB are pretty consistent: Let's see him actually DO SOMETHING before we start singing his praises. When Romo came onto the scene, every Cowboy fan and his momma was ready to annoint him the next Troy Aikman. His Pro Bowl bid was a joke, but not as much of a joke as Vince Young's (more on that in a bit... small hint: Vince Yong's ranking was what made me giddy). Romo is a decent QB who has potential. Anyone ranking him in the top 10 is either a complete idiot or a Cowboy homer.

Tony can't believe Pete Prisco doesn't like him.

So, Pete's now 2 for 2. He's pretty much said exactly what we at Stampede Blue have said for a while. But wait, it gets better:

When I read this, I nearly spit my iced-double-frap-mocha-java-latte-creme-float onto my monitor. Very few, if any, real NFL writers have taken the position Stampede Blue has regarding Tedy Bruschi: He's done. You could see it during the AFCCG. He can't run. He can't cover. Dallas Clark and Joseph Addai made him look old and silly. However, despite the obviousness of Bruschi's inept play, many writers have not said what we have said... until now. Pete apparently saw what we saw. He saw an old, slow linebacker that simply cannot compete anymore. Maybe we're wrong. Maybe Bruschi was hurt all last year and it affected his ability to do basic cover assignments. But, I don't think we are.

Wow! Pete is 3-3. Can he bat for the cycle? I mean, what more can Pete possibly write? He's pretty much hit the nail on the head when it comes to the most over-rated players in football. Who else could he add?

Oh. My. God.

That's it! That settles it. Pete Prisco is indeed reading this site. Pete sees it our way; the objective way; the no-Go-Longhorns-I'm-a-big-fat-Vince-Young-ballwashing-homer way. Vince Young has trouble throwing the ball. That is NOT a good thing is Vince Young is the QB of your team. Heck, one could make an argument that Young is the most over-rated player in the league.

Young made the Pro Bowl last year despite completing only 51% of his passes and throwing more INTs than TDs. Just to put that into perspective: Eli Manning of the NY Giants completed 57% of his passes with 24 TDs and 18 INTs. He got his team to the playoffs for the second year in a row. Yet, despite these accomplishments, the NY Press and the NFL media gurus are poised to label Peyton's younger brother a bust.

o·ver·rat·ed, o·ver·rat·ing, o·ver·rates: To overestimate the merits of; rate too highly. Example: Vince Young's good because he's "a winner."

Meanwhile, in fairytale land, Vince Young completes barely 51% of his passes, throws 13 picks to only 12 TDs, and misses the playoffs. Yet, despite these horrid numbers, Vince Young gets awarded a Pro Bowl birth, and everyone in the known world is ready to christen this guy Saint Vince d'Nashville.

Sorry, not buying. And neither is Pete Prisco. Last year's final AFC Pro Bowl QB spot should have gone to Chad Pennington, not Vince Young. Unlike Vince, Chad actually had more TDs than INTs. Also unlike Vince, Chad's team made the playoffs. Despite the tremendous potential that Young possesses in terms of size, arm strength, and athletic ability, he is simply not a very good QB right now. As I've said many, many times before: A QB is garbage unless he can throw the ball with accuracy and velocity from the pocket.

Michael Vick was described in his second year much the same way Young is right now: Tremendous potential and athletic ability. Now, six years later, what's Vick's re-occuring problem?

So, like Vick, until I see Vince Young actually throw the ball from the pocket and have a receiver catch it, I cannot take him seriously. His Pro Bowl nod was a joke, and all this Vince Young fawning is making me sick because it's not based in fact or production.

It's based on pure, blind homerism.

At least Pete Prisco has two eyes and isn't still swooning in the after glow of the 2006 National Championship Game. Yes, I know Vince Young was a college legend. So was Eric Crouch. I don't care what someone did in college. College football is an inferior sport to professional football. There is no debate there, no argument. What a guy did in college means absolutely nothing now, and until I see Vince Young actually DO SOMETHING, I will keep him in the Tony Romo-class of QBs.

Thankfully, someone like Prisco actually has the stones to speak the truth that we at Stampede Blue have been saying for a while. I was beginning to think everyone in big media had attended the University of Texas (or, at least, gotten drunk at a frat party there). For his honesty and accute knowledge of the great sport of professional football, we at Stampede Blue give Pete Prisco a big, sloppy wet kiss.

Who loves ya, Pete!

Have a good weekend. Go Colts!