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Saturday, April 27, 2013
This week's Q&A-Mac is brought to you by The Big Uglies: exacting their revenge after all those years of being ignored.
Q: Nine of the first 14 picks of the NFL draft were offensive or defensive linemen - 10 if you count Dion Jordan, an end/linebacker hybrid who went third overall to the Dolphins. What does this say about the state of pro football?
A: Two things:
1) NFL decision-makers hated this year's quarterbacks class just as much as all the analysts did; and
2) We all should have spent a little more time at the Sizzler buffet growing up. We could have been rich.
Q: Anything surprise you about the high picks?
A: I don't purport to be any kind of NFL expert, but I'm surprised at how little production and/or football experience seem to matter anymore. Consider: Jordan had five sacks his final season at Oregon.
Ezekiel Ansah, who went fifth to the Lions, has only played three years of organized football and logged just nine college starts at BYU.
Barkevious Mingo, nabbed by the Browns with the sixth pick, didn't start playing until his junior year of high school. He wasn't even a first team all-SEC selection for LSU in 2012. He was second team.
Q: Yes, but they are all athletic freaks. Isn't that what counts?
A: Now more than ever. Which is why it was never ridiculous to suggest that Virginia Tech's Logan Thomas could have been selected fairly high in this year's draft had he chosen to declare, despite some of his struggles last year.
Given Thomas' measurables and potential - along with what would have surely been impressive interviews at the combine - I don't think NFL scouts would have cared much what his numbers were in Blacksburg.
Q: Speaking of quarterbacks, how about the ACC having the first signal-caller selected, in Florida State's E.J. Manuel?
A: This pick was universally panned by the analysts - CBSSports.com senior NFL columnist Pete Prisco gave it the only F among his first round grades - but I love Manuel. Forget that he has a dog named Maximus and another one named Titan. Forget the fact that when he was 6, he scored the only goal his youth soccer team tallied all season ("We were really good, right?" he joked).
Manuel is smart, dedicated, charismatic - and oh, yeah, he's also 6-foot-5, 237 pounds and runs a 4.59-second 40. I know he threw a few bad interceptions as a Seminole, but if results don't matter for the big guys, they needn't matter for the quarterbacks.
No way this guy's an F. Good pick, Bills.
Q: Thoughts on last Sunday's arrest of Virginia Tech tailback Michael Holmes on one count of malicious wounding and two counts of simple assault?
A: Not sure what I - or anybody else who wasn't there that morning during the alleged fight - really has to add to the situation at this point. The school suspended him, as it its policy, until the case is adjudicated or the charges are dropped.
No problem at all with how it's been handled.
Q: Comment of the week on the blog?
A: Let's go with 540Hokie, during a discussion on N.C. State quarterback Mike Glennon (who wound up going in the third round to Tampa Bay): "Always thought Sean Glennon got a bad rap from most Hokie fans. There were many more positives than there were negatives. Plus, I don't think you should ever boo your own players. That's just my opinion."
Q: What's your opinion on booing your own team's players?
A: Can't say I've never done it with pros - repeated lax effort running out ground balls by guys making millions doesn't sit well with me - but I've never been a big fan of booing your own guys, either.
Then again, that's why you'll probably never see 540Hokie or me at Radio City Music Hall on draft night. We just wouldn't fit in.