Brian: Matt Hasselbeck – Overrated.  In every fantasy draft I’ve ever been involved with, someone has taken this average Joe to a chorus of, “Great picks!” or “If he stays healthy, he’s a real sleeper!”  While I’m not one of these naïve fans who equates everything that happens in the fantasy realm of the NFL to the real deal or vice versa, I just can’t understand what people get so giddy about when he or the Seahawks come up in conversation.

"Here ya go Al. I was just kidding when I said I wanted to win this game anyway!"

We’ll just start with the numbers because, to borrow a tired expression, “they don’t lie.”  In eight seasons at the helm of the Seahawks’ offense, Hasselbeck has averaged a very pedestrian 18 TD/ 11 INT. By way of comparison, last year Ravens’ QB Joe Flacco threw for 14 TD against 12 INT and Falcons stud Matt Ryan went for 16 TD/ 11 INT.

And they were both rookies.

Perhaps Hasselbeck gets some sort of pass (hooray, puns!) because he plays in Seattle and in a division that success forgot.  Perhaps people look to a blown call in Super Bowl XL (no way big Ben scored on that play) as the reason Hasselbeck hasn’t cemented himself among the league’s elite signal callers.

Or perhaps he just isn’t that good.

As a staunch believer in all things karma, I would argue that Hasselbeck sealed his fate in 2004 when, in a Wild Card game against the Packers at Lambeau, he won the overtime coin flip and exclaimed, in an all too pre-pubescent voice, “We’ll take ball and we’re going to score!” Well, that sort of came true as Hasselbeck threw a pinpoint accurate pass to Packers’ CB Al Harris who took it to the house.  Ultimately, Hasselbeck was in on the scoring, so maybe he’s smarter than I thought.

And with that bold prediction and ensuing karmic kick in the cajones, the NFL had its own historic member of the all-Hubris team.

Let’s face it—nothing worthy has come out of Seattle since grunge.  And while Hasselbeck is certainly a serviceable quarterback in the NFL, such a distinction is not all that different from admitting the girl you’re dating has a sparkling personality as you hide out in poorly lit coffeehouses to avoid admitting what you both already know.  She’ll never be the one.

Dave: Kerry Collins – Underrated.  The Tennessee Titans QB made a name for himself at Penn State, where he set records for total offense, completions, passing yardage, completion percentage, yards per attempt, and passing efficiency.  Collins was the first pick ever for the Carolina Panthers, then an expansion team in the 1995 season.  Collins’ career has been a roller coaster ever since.  In only his second season, he led the Panthers to a NFC Conference Championship game, but had a horrible season in ’97.  He was released in 1998, and was widely thought of as an alcoholic (since, let’s face it, he was) by the NFL.

"I may have a had a few chardonnays before this game, what of it? Hey, I still got this team to the Super Bowl, so I deserve a few drinks for that."

Collins bounced back though, taking the NY Giants to a Super Bowl in the 2000 season, where Collins struggled against the Ravens’ defense (but really every team did that year; the Ravens certainly weren’t in the Super Bowl because of their offense).  In 2004, Collins was released yet again, and then signed by the Raiders where his career was pronounced dead.  He showed a little life, but was cut in 2006 with a 7-21 overall record at Oakland, despite the fact that he himself had some success.  Collins threw for 3,700+ yards that year, and had 20 TD’s.  The Raiders were just so bad, they needed a scapegoat and a drunken Collins filled that void.

Then came the 2006 season, when Collins was signed as the backup to Tennessee’s newly drafted “Franchise QB” Vince Young.  In 2007, Collins took over for an injured Vince Young and never looked back.  Kerry once again resurrected his career as he led the Titans to a 13-3 season and a playoff berth.  He returned to the Pro Bowl that year and now is the clear-cut starter at Tennessee.  The common theme here is that Kerry Collins, for as bad as people say he is, is good.  He has no ring, but how many times has this guy been written off only to battle back to prove people wrong? How many seasons has this guy saved for teams? How many coaches’ jobs has he saved?  The guy obviously deserves a hell of a lot of more credit than he gets.

Sieck: Eli Manning – Overrated.  OK, I know that he actually pronounces his name. “E-lie,” but it’s just too easy to get caught up in either confusion or disrespect and pronounce it “Elly,” and that ladies and gentlemen is a girl’s name. Of course, having a girl’s name is never a good thing for a starting NFL quarterback to have. Just ask the aforementioned Kerry Collins… but I digress. Anyway, after inexplicably announcing a refusal to play for the San Diego Chargers if he was to be drafted by them, San Diego did so anyway and worked out a deal with the New York Giants to trade the prima donna there in exchange for Philip Rivers and draft picks that turned out to be linebacker Shawne Merriman and kicker Nate Kaeding. (WHAT? SERIOUSLY?) I think it’s safe to say that San Diego made out on the deal, as “Elly” has been the picture of inconsistency so far over his NFL career.

"Yeah! $97.5 mil says I’m incredibly average! Peyton who?"

Is he a decent game manager? Sure, but there are plenty of guys a team can get to do that. Of course, this didn’t stop the G-men from recently giving Manning a six-year, $97.5 million contract extension that will make him the highest-paid player in the league, overall… yeah, I’m still scratching my head over this one, as well. Why would the Giants do this? The only reason I can possibly come up with is that he managed to complete a desperation pass to David Tyree (that he miraculously caught against his helmet) late in the fourth quarter to keep the drive alive in Super Bowl XLII that eventually set up the win. Incidentally, for Tyree’s efforts, instead of getting a lucrative contract extension, he was recently released. OK, I know you can’t really compare the two, but this contract is worthy of a top-five QB. Manning isn’t even in the top ten. He may not even crack the top fifteen. Seriously, I think one could probably count his 300-yard games on one hand, and even in 2005 when he finished in the top five in touchdowns and passing yards, he only managed to barely complete half his passes, at 52.8%.

He continually struggles during the second half of the season when the games really matter, and regardless of the Super Bowl performance, never seems to have the eye of the tiger when the game is on the line. His career QB rating is a very average 76.1 with a 98-74 TD/INT ratio. I’m sure Tom Brady, Drew Brees and even his loving brother Peyton break dishes at home when they realize they don’t make as much money as this goober. Of course, having said that, I was forced to take this slow adult as my backup QB in fantasy this year, and I’m hoping the underwhelming signal caller can put up big numbers on Week 5 against the Raiders during Aaron Rodgers’ bye week. Go Big Blue!