Boy, how a couple of weeks can change an NFL quarterback. Buffalo Bills quarterback, Trent Edwards, has fallen from possible MVP to a shaky quarterback—at best..
The second year QB looked like an up and coming star through the first few weeks of the season. He was becoming one of the young poster boys for the NFL. He made appearances on ESPN’s NFL Countdown, Rome is Burning, PTI, ESPN the Magazine and everything in between. Some were even calling the 25 year old quarterback the next Tom Brady and a candidate for the MVP.
That changed over the course of the season, and it may have to do with a concussion that Edwards faced in Week five against the Arizona Cardinals. He was knocked out of that game and took the bye week off to rest. He returned in the Bills next schedule game and played pretty well.
So what exactly happened?
Edwards looked sluggish and his decision making has turned into that of a certain Bills QB that is currently sitting on the bench during the games. He has had his share of mistakes and “brain farts” this season. He has thrown terrible interceptions, even been stripped while stretching for a first down.
After taking a look at some of film from NFL.com, Edwards hasn't been making the right decisions during the last few weeks. Yes, he has made some great plays but his overall level of play has dropped off. It is just a matter of making the right choices though, as shown in the examples.
Example 1: Week 9 vs. the NY Jets, :15 left in the 1st Quarter
3rd and Goal on the Jets 15
The Bills line up in the shotgun formation. Two wide receivers were to the left side of the field while one was lined up on the right. The running back was on Edward’s right in the backfield.
Edwards took the snap and took three steps. He stepped up and delivered a strike to the left side of the field. He was hit as soon as he released the ball. He was trying to hit Roscoe Parrish on an out pattern.
Parrish ended up falling down but even if he stayed on his feet, the pass would still have gone the other way. Edwards throw the ball into a zone that had double coverage on Parrish and one other player from the Jets secondary was right behind them as he was following Robert Royal who was running a pattern right behind him.
The throw was really going into a crowd that had the Bills outnumbered, 3-2. The pass was picked off and instead of just taking the sack, the interception went the other way for a touchdown and the Jets took an even bigger lead.
Example 2: Week 10 vs. the New England Patriots, :21 left in the 1st Quarter
1st and 10 from the Buffalo 13, Patriots up 7-0
Edwards was once again the “gun”. He had three wide receivers to the right of the formation and one wide receiver, Lee Evans, to the left. Edwards took the snap and dropped three steps. He quickly released the ball to the left side, a pass intended for Evans, who was wide open.
The pass sailed high and behind Evans, and was intercepted. It was a basic "Cover 3" defense (three guys back in a 3-deep zone, with the linebackers dropping back into coverage, covering the underneath patterns). Edwards this time made the right read, but threw a terrible pass. He had his man open but just couldn’t execute.
Example 3: Week 10 vs. the New England Patriots, :45 left in the 3rd Quarter
2nd and 10 from the Buffalo 45, Patriots Lead 13-3
It was another shotgun formation that the offense came out in. Two wide outs were lined up on the left while 1 wide receivers and TE Robert Royal were on the right. The running back was lineup up next to Edwards on his right side.
Edwards takes the snap and looks for the open man. The Patriots defense was in zone coverage with a spy on the running back coming out of the backfield (a linebacker was not rushing or dropping back into coverage, just watching and reacting to what the running back did). The Patriots only rushed three guys.
Edwards looked and fired a pass to the right where he thought Robert Royal was wide open. It turned out that he wasn’t in the least. The veteran cornerback jammed the wide receiver on the side of Royal, making Edwards think that it was man to man coverage. He then released the pass to Royal that was easily picked off when that same cornerback dropped back into his zone. It was an easy pick due to Edward’s lack of recognition.
These three examples each showed a way in which Edwards was struggling in. His lack of recognition, execution, and forced passes each contributed to some of his struggles. Now don’t get me wrong, Trent is a great young talent that despite his struggles, is still considered to be the franchise QB. He can get better and a lot of these problems can be fixed with more playing time and he gets more experienced at the position
My only question was why now? It must be because defenses are starting to adjust to him and fool him. That is my only guess seeing as he started off the year so hot. In the first 4 games, Edwards went 78-of-119 (65.5%), 930 yards, 4 touchdowns, 2 interceptions and a 94.6 QB rating.
Then in week five against Arizona, he suffered the concussion after going 3 of 3 for 18 yards.
Then Edwards bounced back against San Diego, going 25-of-30 (83.3% which tied a franchise record), 261 yards, 1 TD (0 INTS) and a QB rating of 114. It looked like he was back to his old self.
But then the last three games hit him hard, as the Bills went 0-3 in them. Edwards, in the 3 games combined, went 58-of-93 (62.4%), 636 yards, 2 TDs, 5 INTs, and a 65.2 QB rating.
Now I don’t expect the guy to play great every game, and I understand that he is young and even the best struggle (just take a look at Peyton Manning this season) but the inconsistency is what scares me.
He has showed he can play towards the top of the league but has also showed that he can fall too. The Bills will only go as far as their QB and they need him to step up and lead this team for some wins.
It all starts Monday night.
6 comments Last one added 7 months ago — Leave a Comment
Jarrod Seybolt 7 months ago
I always find it interesting that people always jump on the quarterback to bash when a team is doing poorly. Ignore the fact that the running game is nonexistant. Ignore the injuries to the offensive line, the absence of a center and a starting right guard and missing number two WR (reed) Ignore the fact that the play calling is so bad that there has not been a playaction or screen play called in two consecutive weeks. To continue with the play calling I will point out that the Bills when in shotgun formation threw over 90 percent of the time and when in singleback formation they ran over 90 percent of the time. Not fooling anybody the defense can pick a defense to guard recievers well, for example of the many plays edwards has been sacked there is hardly anybody open. Did I mention a nonexistant running game? The source of the running game problems and some forced throws? The biggest offensive line in the NFL that gets no push on run and burned on pass protection. Ben Roethlisberger led his team to a superbowl, this year without willie mo there is no running game and a terribe offensive line comparble to the Bills. Are you talking about how terrible of a quarterback he is, would you? Don't be the guy who blames losses on one person. It takes a team to lose a game and in this case the coaching goes pretty far trying to lose. You have very few examples trying to make a case against edward, three examples in ten games? The handoff to Joey Porter was nothign more then another Schonert bad play call, Marshawn Lynch gets one yard even when he ishit in the backfield, they shouldve handed the ball to him. Hell Marshawn gettin 40 yards a game is a feat, he gets hit in the backfield everyplay and there is no holes. On one play last game he broke four tackles to make it four yards.
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Matt Schaefer 7 months ago
Hey I agree with you on all of your points there. I didnt write an article on the coaching staff this week because that would have been about 5 pages long. Yesterday I talk about the lack of running game and how it could be improved (http://bleacherreport.com/articles/81144-buffalo-bills-back-at-the-bottom-of-afc-east). The blame needs to be spread around, I just haven't written all of the articles on each part yet. Today I will talk about the pass rush and how that can be improved. The three examples are just 3 that show different problems that he has experienced over the past few games. Trent Edwards is not really a bum, and is one of my favorite players on the BIlls team. And the Josh Reed injury hurts him also.
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Nicholas Spoljaric 7 months ago
As a huge Losman fan, I often look at the nay sayers and their knocks on JP and see so many similar thigns in Edwards...
Losman-
- Can not win against teams with a winning record
- Turns the ball over
- Not accurate on intermediate throws
- Not very consistent
Meanwhile back at the ranhc Losman never had the supporting cast that Edwards does. Now I do admit the line is not playing up to snuff and in tunr it hurts the rushing attack which in turn hurts the passing game.
However, if Edwards is the future the kid needs to be able to take a team on his shoulders and win ball games. He has yet to do that. Those 4th quater comebacks were inlight of playing terrible the entire game up to that point. If edwards played a consistent game there would be no need for comeback after comeback.
I have a feeling Edwards will regain some confidence and put up more than a single passing TD. Hopefully the kid will protect the ball and maintain long sustained drives.
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Matt Schaefer 7 months ago
Thanks for the comment. Edwards is a lot more accurate on intermediate throwns but like losman has not beat a winning team, turns the ball over, and has been inconsistent.
The only point of your I disagree with is that Edwards has a supporting cast better than Losman. Really? He has the same wrs other than James Hardy who has been a nonfactor, the same tightend and the runningback has been about the same for both players (Lynch and McGahee).
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Richard Whitt 7 months ago
As the old addage goes, you're never as good or as bad as you seem to be. That's epitomizes Edwards at this point in his career.
The FACT is, Edwards has had a lot of time to work in the pocket. Another FACT is that he's used every bit of it going through progressions... Not locking onto a covered receiver in anticipation of him getting open (ala, JP Losman).
What has changed from week 4 to week 10 isn't time to throw or Edwards' ability to read defenses, it's been a complete lack of adjusments. Defenses are not playing the Bills the same that they were then. They are dropping more defensive back into coverage, and employing coverage schemes that Edwards, frankly, doesn't have any experience against. This is exposed, however, by a COMPLETE LACK of a running game. Fix that, and you force defenses to change their priorities a bit.
Another adjustment is hot reads. I've seen very few. This is either poor play calling... something that is definitely a question mark in my mind, or Edwards simply has not identified blitz schemes properly. Hard to know which one is the cause and which the effect there.
In general though, I don't think it's very meaningful how much fanfare or attention Edwards got early and is now getting, he's still who he is and that's all that will really come to mean anything. Who cares? Really?
I think he's a very promising second year QB. He's still green. Defensive coordinators are testing him and he's discovering his own weaknesses week to week. He'll either getting better, which he has shown the ability and dedication to do, or he won't. Time will tell.
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Matt Schaefer 7 months ago
Agree. I love the potiental of him. I have to agree with your hot reads too. It is hard to tell but personally i think he isnt picking up blitzes well. The adjustments that the team and him havent made yet and the lack of the running game hurt him much also.
Thanks for the comment!
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