Ozymandius

He's highly thought of enough to have survived a porn scandal: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/sports/steelers/blogger-says-steelers-zierlein-inadvertently-forwarded-porn-to-nfl-officials-486160/ Steelers line coach Larry Zierlein inadvertently forwarded an e-mail he received from Doug Whaley, the Steelers' pro personnel coordinator, to multiple high-level team employees and their secretaries throughout the NFL, including commissioner Roger Goodell. Whaley, according to Florio, received the pornographic video from someone outside the Steelers' organization and forwarded it to others, including Zierlein, who then sent it along to more e-mail addresses than he apparently intended Friday.

I agree. It's more the case of poor transcription than a poor mind or even poor grammar.

You are mostly correct, but do you really believe a lline of 7 would encourage only 50% of bettors to back the Patriots? I believe 90% of bettors would bet New England at 7 (which isn't the same as saying 90% of the money will be on New England). So it's slightly more complicated than what you're saying.

I would've rather had EJ star against Florida forcing us to take him at #8 than have him struggle in that game.

Aaron Rodgers was playing behind Brett Favre. I bet if he had been thrust into the starter's role as a rookie, he still would've ended up being just as great a QB. Like others said, if EJ is too mentally fragile to handle some early struggles, work through them, and improve, like every star QB in the NFL has done, then he just wasn't meant to be good in the first place. EJ should start Game 1. Throw him into the fire and see what he's made of. Maybe he will surprise some of you "take it slow" pansies and progress into a star. Then everything will be great. But if he struggles and can't seem to mentally figure things out as the season progresses, then we need to plan our 2014 draft accordingly. It would be ridiculously stupid for the Bills to take the highest rated QB from a crappy QB class in 2013 and pamper him and 3-yr-plan him and completely ignore the much higher-rated 2014 QB class. Alas, that's what we're destined to do. EJ will be pampered and you guys will make excuses for him and then in 2016 we'll "know for sure" that he's a bust while Manziel tears it up with another team.

Kolb starting would be dumb. Let's find out about EJ and then make 2014 draft plans accordingly. 2014 is supposed to have a much better QB class.

The Bills definitely should have drafted more QBs. I just hope, if Manuel struggles this season, the Bills don't hesitate to use next year's first-rounder on a QB as well. There is no reason to marry ourselves to this project long-term. Hit it and quit it.

I voted Nassib because he's my fave of this lot but if we had "None of these qbs" as a poll option, I would've chosen that. No QB in this draft excites me.

You're thinking about this all wrong. The Bills don't have to marry themselves to whichever QB they pick at #8. This is them "taking a shot" at getting their QB in this, the 2013 draft. If that QB doesn't work, then take another shot in the 2014 draft. Keep doing it until you find one. The NFL is about QB play. Under the current rules, which seem to continue to change towards the passing game each year, I don't see how anyone can disagree.

I did see it and I disagree. Getting hit hard like that occasionally happens to every QB at every level. Most walk away from it and huddle up again. What about his other injuries that caused him to miss time? What about his offseason wrist surgery? Maybe people don't like the word "frail" but let's just say injuries occur a lot to him. Adjust the competition with larger, faster NFL players and I would expect a lot of appearances of Matt Barkley on the inactive list or IR.

Put money where mouth is. Name your stakes for a bet.

That is indeed very good analysis of the two, ChanOverChin. One thing I would add is that Nassib started 38 straight games without missing one, and Barkley is injury-prone and coming off a serious throwing shoulder injury.

From this link: http://espn.go.com/nfl/draft2013/story/_/id/9192964/nfl-draft-matt-barkley-embraces-all Greg Cosell, who has spent more than two decades breaking down film of quarterbacks as the executive producer of ESPN's "NFL Matchup" show, takes the analysis of Barkley one step further. "I don't think he's an NFL starting quarterback," Cosell said. "When all is said and done, you're dealing with a quarterback with average arm strength that struggles to drive the ball at the intermediate and deeper levels. Therefore, there are throws that he will struggle to make, and, given that he's essentially a pocket quarterback, that's how he will have to make his living. He's not an athletic quarterback. I don't think he has very good feet. So when you look at the fact he's shorter than you'd like, has an average arm, and he's not particularly athletic in and around the pocket like a Drew Brees, I just think his physical traits don't lend themselves to him being a high-quality NFL starter."

FYI, Nassib is: Greg Cosell's #1 QB Gruden's #1 QB Russ Lande's #1 QB Jaworski's #2 QB ProFootballWeekly's #2 QB He will be a 1st-rounder.

Fine, we'll agree to disagree on the terminology. In the end, I bet you're at least a little bit concerned about how Barkley is going to hold up in the NFL. 4 games in 4 years sounds okay, but like I said, if last season's injury had occurred in Game 1, we would be looking at 14 games in 4 years, right? Look at it this way. How much worse would his injury resume have to be to not be considered a top QB prospect? Missing games in 4 out of 4 seasons instead of 3 out of 4? 2 season-ending injuries to his throwing shoulder instead of 1? He's basically already at the limit and that's not even counting another injury that occurred in the offseason of his sophomore year which required surgery that most people aren't even aware of: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/sports_blog/2010/01/usc-football-matt-barkley-wrist-surgery-spring-practice-.html I also don't like that his freshman season injury was the same as his senior season injury, just not as severe obviously. Is he going to continue to land awkwardly on his right throwing shoulder throughout his career? He's already got questionable arm strength. And oh yeah, we have to draft him coming off the season-ending injury without the benefit of seeing him play in any more games to see how he and his throwing shoulder will react? I just don't like it.

The first post is genius. Usually I write off the "inside sources tell me" "I know a player on the team" stuff but this one was made to be believable.

Yes, missing games in 3 of 4 seasons is pretty much the definition of frail. Him missing "only" 2 games this past season is pretty much luck that the injury occurred late in the season instead of early in the season. If it happened in Game 1, he would've missed 12 games, right? Compare this to Nassib, who got shoddier protection at Cuse, and started 38 straight games, never missing one.

He's missed games in 3 of 4 seasons and is coming off a season-ender. Maybe he doesn't look frail, but frail he is. Smart kid, likable kid. But the physical stuff (arm, durability) just isn't there.

If you're worried about getting value with this position, don't. The value of a good QB is off the charts compared to other positions. Basically, if you think someone will be a good QB, he's worth the pick at 8.

With the rookie salary scale in place, there's really no reason anymore for a franchise to become wedded to a 1st-round QB. The Bills should draft a QB at 8 this year, and if he doesn't work out, go back to the well again next year in the 1st-round. Keep doing it until you get it right. QB is too important not to have a good one. The Bills may indeed commit to a bad QB for 3+ years, but that would be due to their own buffoonery, not to today's market realities. Hit it and quit it is the new reality.

lol at Nassib in the 3rd round if anything, you have your QBs switched. Nassib in the 1st and Geno in the 3rd is actually the more likely scenario

Yes, it's worth the gamble. Drafting any position is a gamble. Not all positions have the same impact, tho. If behind Door 1 is a 10% chance at a million dollars and behind Door 2 is a 90% chance at $100, you should choose Door 1

Why build the rest of the team if you have no QB? Use draft picks on QB and linemen to protect him. If he pans out, THEN build the rest of the team around him. Because otherwise you are just sinking your draft position and making it more difficult to find a QB.

The NFL needs more racist team names, not fewer. 32 teams, and only 1 racist team name? In the general population, there are surely more than 1 racist for every 32 people. So racists are actually UNDERrepresented by NFL team names right now. What are we going to do about it? Probably nothing.

How would a flag have helped the 49ers? A flag would not have put time back on the clock. Also a hold in the end zone is a safety = same result. The Ravens were smart. In that situation, they recognized they could hold with impunity and did so accordingly.