I agree, it's an absurd comparison, as Longstaff is nowhere near Rice's level today. And yet...a not-so-insignificant number of Newcastle supporters felt fit to make the claim. I'd say it's certainly pretty telling that Rice, a year plus Longstaff's junior, has been getting PL appearances for a year and a half, while Longstaff has just made the jump on a thinner Newcastle side a month ago.
To be fair to those Newcastle fans, Martin Keown, a man never to be confused with the smartest person in the room, made the original comparison and they just ran with it.
Well, when you take into account that in the previous five years the NUFC's academy's product of greatest note was Paul Dummett little wonder that some souls are thrilling to Longstaff's successes.
As you say, there is most certainly a reason Longstaff has taken so long to break into the team - he's neither physically imposing nor blessed with inordinate skill.
Coincidentally, Rice's midfield partner, Noble, is an illustration that a player can lack both those things and endure at EPL level. However I think that means, like Noble, Longstaff will prove more dependent than most on having a balanced midfield around him to help bring the best out of him once clubs around the league have scouted him.
Noble, incidentally, is a reminder that NUFC fans don't have the monopoly on becoming overexcited about prospects who subsequently crash their heads off a modest ceiling.
As for Rice, he deserves plenty of praise of his performance yesterday. But caution is the best path, not least when the Hammers have taken one point from their previous five away games, and if the hype increases, so will the expectation that he dominates beyond his back yard. Whisper it, but the present fuss surrounding Rice - a mixture of acclaim for his performances, sunny predictions for his future, and debate about whether centre back or central midfield will turn out to be his best position - carries echoes of a young Jack Rodwell.
Mind, given his performances for sunderland post-August 2016, Jack Rodwell is someone I won't have a word said against.