COMMENTARY
Play shows Bills on right road with QB
Trent Edwards had just won the biggest game of his NFL career. Naturally, he was talking about his teammates. He called Fred Jackson a quarterback’s dream. Then, as if a light had gone on in his head, Edwards paid homage to his offensive line.
He rattled off their names one by one, all seven O-linemen who had played in the oppressive Florida heat. Edwards made sure to add Duke Preston’s name at the end. He wanted people to know that Preston, a good guy who has battled to keep a place on the roster, had played in the big game.
I don’t know what was more impressive — that Edwards thought to mention all his interior linemen or that, in the excitement of the moment, he managed to click off all seven names without a slip. It was calculating and kind, a sure sign of an emerging leader.
Rob Johnson once stood up there and said he didn’t want to lead. He wanted to be one of the guys. J. P. Losman tries hard, but it seems forced. His mind always seems to be racing and allowing his ego to get in the way.
Edwards gets it just right. He has the quick mind and easy temperament of a successful NFL quarterback. Now, two games into his second season, it’s becoming increasingly apparent that he has the game, too.
The coaches told Edwards it was his team now, his chance to lead. Now he had to back it up on the field. In the NFL, it always gets back to the quarterback. If the Bills were going to be a playoff team, Edwards had to be a difference-maker. He had to lead them in the big games.
So Sunday’s 20-16 win in Jacksonville was a coming of age for Edwards. By marching the Bills to the winning touchdown, he began to answer some of the lingering questions about his ability. Some day, we might look back on it the way we do the Jim Kelly game at Miami in 1989.
“He’s pretty good,” coach Dick Jauron said after the Bills went to 2-0 for the first time in five years. “We don’t know how good we can be, but he gives us a chance. He gave us a chance today.”
Edwards gave them more than a chance. He completed 20 of 25 passes, with no interceptions. On the opening drive, he went 6 for 6 and led the Bills to a TD — the first time the Bills scored a first-quarter TD on the road since his debut a year earlier in New England.
Through the first two games, Edwards has completed 39 of 55 passes for 454 yards, a shade over 70 percent. He hasn’t thrown an interception.
On the winning drive, Edwards threw a 37-yard strike to Lee Evans to set up the winning throw to James Hardy. Edwards said he had watched film of last year’s loss in Jacksonville and remembered Evans running the same post corner route. They missed it that day. He said the memory of that play flashed through his mind as the big throw to Evans was developing.
Some people took that as a veiled shot at Losman. I don’t buy it. Edwards was simply explaining how the game unfolds for a quarterback, and how watching film can prepare you for the big moment.
The winning TD throw to Hardy might have been the most impressive of all. Edwards had struggled with that high throw in practice.
When the big moment came, Edwards delivered the ball. He’s a quick study, and all that work in practice finally paid off. He was no ordinary rookie last season, and he’s more advanced than most NFL QBs after 11 starts.
He also has the leadership qualities of an older man. The Bills have a lot of character, a lot of leaders. But when the quarterback has the ball in his hand with the game on the line, there can be no question who is in charge.
This is Edwards’ team now. He doesn’t take it lightly. Like any good leader, he understands that it begins with being a good teammate.
