What happened to Trent Edwards?

[l< j]

O lines make QBs look better or worse depending on their performance. But the opposite is true, too. QBs make their o lines look good through smart decision making, pocket presence, timely audibles, etc. We have had a long string of o lines who weren't worth their paychecks, and a long string of QBs that made their lines look worse.

 

That is my uninformed assessment of Edwards: he played behind a crappy, crappy line and made them look even worse.

 

kj

[JohnC]

It was reported that TE lost the locker room late in the season. To me, TE's disappearance is a combination of two things:

 

1) His mental state isn't one that rebounds from adversity. Not like a Brees, P. Manning, Rodgers, Favre, or the elite QB's in the game.

 

2) His HC was responsible for some of the dullest offenses in Bills history. That's not saying they were the worst, but three coordinators looked eerily similar when crunch time rolled around. I still don't know why TE remained loyal to DJ as his career was twisting downward in that backwards offense DJ's been running.

 

OBD will have a hard time selling Edwards as the starter in 2010 and they've already got an uphill climb after hiring Gailey.

 

If a coaching staff or front office is concerned about the feelings of the fans when they make personnel decisions then they should just close shop and take a hike. Is Trent Edwards salvageable? I certainly don't know. But what I do know for sure is that unless a credible line is assembled before entering next season there will be a replay of exhausting ineptitude again from the offense.

 

The Bills season was blown up before it even started last year with the trading of Peters and a lack of planning for his replacement. If the Bills don't address the OL in a meaningful way this season you will see an ugly replay of last year. The Bills not only need to upgrade the starting line they also desperately need to upgrade the depth level. Having to bring in practice players from the worst teams is inadequate and pathetic.

 

At this point I don't have a clue who will be our starter. No one really does. But what I can tell you is unless the OL is meaningfully addressed whoever is the starter will fail. The Bills are a years way from being a serious playoff contending team. Instead of taking shortcuts that get you to nowhere it is way past time to start making fundamental decisions that

put you on track to being a serious team.

[papazoid]

personaly i think it's time to move on without trent.......but if your looking to make excuses for him there are plenty:

 

#1- COACHING !!......i think he took on the personality of his head coach Dick Jauron. He played NOT TO LOSE !!.....hence the nickname captain checkdown.......also, did you ever hear him in his post game locker room interviews??.....no passion at all....company line standard answers. then add into it the joke of an OC in AVP coupled with constant turnover at OC........

 

#2- OFFENSIVE LINE......was a disaster through poor front office moves (peters & walker) and crippled by injuries (Butler, Wood, etc....)

 

#3- ACCURACY.......after the concussion and then groin injury, he just wasn't the same......especially in the area that should be his strength..........he lost it.

 

now, going forward......if somehow, Chan Gailey thinks he's worth saving.....i'm fine with it........but, from what i see, it's time to move on.

[billsfreak]

What about now, Billsfreak?

 

I would say that Cortez as QB coach and Gailey as offensive coordinator/ head coach will prove positive.

 

Providing Nix gets some offensive tackles in Buffalo.

Those guys haven't proven anything in Buffalo yet, but hopefully they can get things headed in the right direction. If they can get a line and a good system around Edwards, and if the organization gives him another shot (word is Ralph doesn't want him), he has at least a 50-50 chance of succeeding. All these things are however an awful lot of ifs.

[Gugny]

I agree with a lot of the assessments already written. That's the scary thing to me ... it's not just one thing that's keeping TE from being successful. That tells me that he might be beyond the fixing point.

 

1. Concussion - to me, this is the biggest reason. Not only possible after-effects, but fear of taking another blow like that.

2. Cleveland game - his memory is too long. He could never shake that performance like the elite QBs shake off bad games.

3. O-Line - This excuse can only go so far. I think a good QB would/could make some adjustments to work around this.

4. Poor coaching/game planning - again ... good QBs work around this.

5. Indecisiveness - I don't think good/quick decision making can be taught. You either have it or you don't. He doesn't.

 

He seems to be a smart, nice guy. He's got a good, accurate arm. I just don't think he has the "it" factor. If he's proven anything, he's proven that.

 

I think it's time to move on to someone else. Preferably a proven veteran. There is enough talent on the offense, where a good QB would immediately result in wins.

 

Having a competition between 3 or 4 unexperienced, unproven, unsuccessful QBs will still result in having an unexperienced, unproven, unsuccessful QB in the end.

 

Get a veteran and keep Brohm to be an understudy. That's my vote.

 

Go Bills!

[Nervous Guy]

He showed more promise than any prospect (or suspect) we've had in years, now it feels like going out on a limb to say he should get a shot at the job. I think the odds are way in favor of him being our opening day starter over anyone else in the poll.

after the concussion in Arizona his brain got scrambled.

[MarkyMannn]

Why Shawn Nelson wasn't involved in the offense more last year is beyond me...

 

 

He was hurt for a while, but he looks to have a ton of potential. Big and fast and looks like good hands too. Bills really have to force this guy on the field

[JPS]

Most of the people who want TE gone just want DIFFERENT and I can't blame them. Turn the page. I suppose we'll know soon enough what direction we're going.

 

My only remaining comment on our QB situation is: I seem to remember Brian Brohm being a better prospect when he came out than Edwards, LeFevour, Thigpen or anyone else mentioned. Maybe he has coachable tools.

[jj____]

if you're not smart enough to make the right reads and decisions, it doesn't matter if you have a quick release or a strong arm. you're not going to get it done at all, cut and dry. this combined with the fact that he's injury prone is a clear reason why he should not start again.

[nostyle126]

TE was coached to FAIL, bottom line. Jauron believes in a safe offense that limits turnovers and keeps games close. TE did exactly as he was coached to do. On top of that, he was given a shoddy offensive line and a mess of a coaching staff. He was never really given the opportunity to get comfortable in an offense. It showed in his inability to make decisive reads downfield. He would realize a receiver was open a second too late, rather than having the anticipation and confidence you need to have in the NFL to throw into tight windows. As a result he turned into "Captain Checkdown"...fans hated it, but this is what Jauron and company were coaching him to do.

 

Give TE a real offensive scheme, time to truly grasp it, and an offensive line that can give him a reasonable pocket to throw from, and I think you'll see a competent QB.

 

Having said that, I think you could give TE all of the above and I still question if he has the arm strength to play in Buffalo. I think TE might be the kind of QB that needs to play in the sunbelt or a dome. His arm strength is not all that different from Peyton Manning's, but we've seen how peyton struggles when playing in bad weather. You need to have a Brady or a Big Ben kind of arm to have any kind of a passing game in brutal Buffalo winds. TE doesn't have that.

 

...but I betcha if he played in, say, Jacksonville, Tampa, Charlotte, Phoenix, Dallas, Houston, New Orleans, Atlanta, etc, he'd make us regret letting him go.

[JOHNNYFAIRPLAY]

He showed more promise than any prospect (or suspect) we've had in years, now it feels like going out on a limb to say he should get a shot at the job. I think the odds are way in favor of him being our opening day starter over anyone else in the poll.

 

Much like every other promising young QB's that have been brought in and out, he was completely ruined and mismanaged by this awful organization. Trent and JP both had tremendous upside and talent that a good organization would have molded into something significant. But again, this organization is so mismanaged and poorly run that it doesnt even matter.

 

If I were either one of those guys, I would be absolutely pissed that my career was ruined by this team. Oh and I am not done, I would opt out of the draft if I were slated to go to the Bills this year..AND...if somehow I were a top draft pick and wound up being selected by the Bills, I would hold out for as long as it took for the Bills to drop me, sighting both Trent Edwards and JP Losman as my point of example for not wanting to play.

 

We're talking millions of dollars at stake, and potentially a 7-10 year window to earn money and set-up a life for myself. Is that somehting you would place in the hands of arguably the most poorly run organization in the NFL? I would not, and I would be interested to mentally pick the brain of someone that would.

[nostyle126]

I agree with a lot of the assessments already written. That's the scary thing to me ... it's not just one thing that's keeping TE from being successful. That tells me that he might be beyond the fixing point.

 

1. Concussion - to me, this is the biggest reason. Not only possible after-effects, but fear of taking another blow like that.

2. Cleveland game - his memory is too long. He could never shake that performance like the elite QBs shake off bad games.

3. O-Line - This excuse can only go so far. I think a good QB would/could make some adjustments to work around this.

4. Poor coaching/game planning - again ... good QBs work around this.

5. Indecisiveness - I don't think good/quick decision making can be taught. You either have it or you don't. He doesn't.

 

I have to disagree with your 3, 4, and 5. A bad offensive line is a REAL reason for failure. IMO it is an OC's responsibility to adjust the offense to compensate for a bad line, and we NEVER did that. That's not the QB's job. There is only so much you can do when you're being asked to drop 7 steps (or put in shotgun) while your receivers run long routes, watching your interior line collapse into your lap, and knowing that half the time your LT is being beaten on the edge by a speed rusher. How do you expect a QB to "work around" poor gameplans by the coach? Seriously. What do you want TE to do? He has to trust that his coaches are putting together a gameplan that will exploit opposing defenses while taking advantage of our strengths and masking our weaknesses...but then, when the bullets are flying on gameday and NOTHING is working the way it was drawn up, what do you expect the QB to do? That leads to your fifth point. TE was given a shoddy offensive scheme that he was clearly never comfortable with, did not suit his strengths, and was easy for opposing defenses to defend. Then we're shocked when he is indecisive?

 

I'd like to see TE behind a good offensive line, with a sound offensive system drawn up by a competent offensive coordinator. Then let's see what happens.

[nostyle126]

Much like every other promising young QB's that have been brought in and out, he was completely ruined and mismanaged by this awful organization. Trent and JP both had tremendous upside and talent that a good organization would have molded into something significant. But again, this organization is so mismanaged and poorly run that it doesnt even matter.

 

If I were either one of those guys, I would be absolutely pissed that my career was ruined by this team. Oh and I am not done, I would opt out of the draft if I were slated to go to the Bills this year..AND...if somehow I were a top draft pick and wound up being selected by the Bills, I would hold out for as long as it took for the Bills to drop me, sighting both Trent Edwards and JP Losman as my point of example for not wanting to play.

 

We're talking millions of dollars at stake, and potentially a 7-10 year window to earn money and set-up a life for myself. Is that somehting you would place in the hands of arguably the most poorly run organization in the NFL? I would not, and I would be interested to mentally pick the brain of someone that would.

you just described exactly why Buffalo was voted the 2nd worst place to play by NFL players.

[tennesseeboy]

Like a beaten dog - went gun shy after taking lumps for too long. I think he could have been a good pro, but it's a long shot now. He needs a change of scenery and a good O-Line to get some confidence back...

Well...why don't we draft Clausen or Bradford and let them be like a beaten dog too? We could follow the route that Detroit did with Harrington, Houston did with Carr, or Cleveland with Couch. In our case we would have had the experienc e of seeing what happened to TE and possibly JP to fall back on. Buffalo Bills --doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

[billsfreak]

It really gets me the people who want Edwards gone but want to keep Brohm around like he has proven anything. Brohm has been a much bigger bust than Edwards has and has less upside. Keeping Brohm around just solidifies that the Bills don't want to get better, they want the inexpensive avenue towards fielding a team. Edwards probably isn't the answer either, but he deserves a much better opportunity than a guy who couldn't get off of the practice squad anywhere else.

[starrymessenger]

Great thread. All of the posts have merit, even where they disagree.

[H2o]

Much like every other promising young QB's that have been brought in and out, he was completely ruined and mismanaged by this awful organization. Trent and JP both had tremendous upside and talent that a good organization would have molded into something significant. But again, this organization is so mismanaged and poorly run that it doesnt even matter.

 

If I were either one of those guys, I would be absolutely pissed that my career was ruined by this team. Oh and I am not done, I would opt out of the draft if I were slated to go to the Bills this year..AND...if somehow I were a top draft pick and wound up being selected by the Bills, I would hold out for as long as it took for the Bills to drop me, sighting both Trent Edwards and JP Losman as my point of example for not wanting to play.

 

We're talking millions of dollars at stake, and potentially a 7-10 year window to earn money and set-up a life for myself. Is that somehting you would place in the hands of arguably the most poorly run organization in the NFL? I would not, and I would be interested to mentally pick the brain of someone that would.

Coaches can talk to these players until they're blue in the face, but themselves only they can blame for on the field performance. J.P. Losman could throw a beautiful deep ball, but he had a hard time hitting intermediate throws and checkdowns. Coaching's fault? I think not. Was he put too early by Mularky into a pressure situation? Yes, but that by no means determined the outcome of his career. If you can't play with a viable backup on the sidelines without worrying about your own starting spot, there is no coaching in the world that can help that. You can't coach guys out of insecurity. Trent Edwards doesn't trust himself enough to throw the ball leading a WR into the opening on the field. They can't throw the ball for him. There were numerous games where WR's would be coming into openings, but instead he would choose to check down with a 3 yard pass. He would try to wait until a guy was sitting down in an opening, but by then it would be too late. He got crushed one time and it ended him it seems. Getting hit is a part of football and he seems to be afraid of getting hit. He too, mentally, cannot pull it together for whatever reason. Continue to blame everything on this "horrible" organization if you want Negative Nancy, but the truth is these guys held their own fate in their hands and squandered their own opportunities.

[CardinalScotts]

He had a good running attack and two talented wideouts and still couldnt make it work. Yes the line was poor and then got worse (actually Fitz in the one who felt this part)...he's a sack waiting to happen. Like I have said his career isn't just over in Buffalo he'll be out of the league

[DarthICE]

He showed more promise than any prospect (or suspect) we've had in years, now it feels like going out on a limb to say he should get a shot at the job. I think the odds are way in favor of him being our opening day starter over anyone else in the poll.

 

He sucked from day one, never should have started for any team. The only reason he started was jaruon was his HC

[bananathumb]

He sucked from day one, never should have started for any team. The only reason he started was jaruon was his HC

 

 

Up until now, this has been a surprisngly good thread. I thought everyone would take their usual juvenile pot shots at TE, but instead showed great awareness and compassion for a guy whose career went from potential greatness to ruin in such a short time.

 

All the reasons expect one have been mentioned already, so I'll just add it here. Lee Evans has always seemed to sulk

since Edwards replaced his buddy Losman and I think this year, he and TO more or less ganged up on Jauron and the coaches until they were convinced Fitzpatrick gave them a better chance to go deep. It's a new regime in Buffalo, but I don't think they'll solve the chemistry problem between TE and LE. One has to go and we all know who it will be.