My ode to Trent Edwards

Well, so much for all the PR fluff from One Bills Drive that Trent Edwards and Chan Gailey were on the same page like Montana and Walsh, Aikman and Johnson, Kelly and Levy. After all the OTAs, minicamps and preseason bull crap,the Trent Edwards era is finally over. Well, Trent, don’t let the door hit your sideburns on the way out. I’m not going to talk too long about Edwards because I’ve gone over ad nauseum about his play over the years. He stinks and he should have been cut in March.

 If you want a history lesson on Edwards, I’ll say this, he may go down in history as the most overrated player in Bills history. How did I come up with that hypothesis after Trent was cut? Well, go back to his 5-1 start in 2008. People were acting as if he was the heir apparent to Jim Kelly and the hype he got from the media and fans was unwarranted. Think about it, here’s a guy that didn’t even pass for 300 yards in a game and his comeback victories against the Raiders, the Jaguars and the Rams weren’t that impressive because those teams were horrible. Yet, people were so excited about the way he played, when really, he just beat some bad teams. Frankly, the apex of his career was all about fans and media memebers grasping on to any glimmer of hope. If Trent Edwards was the quarterback after Jim Kelly retired, no one would have jumped on his bandwagon as quickly because people weren’t desperate for hope at that time. That’s what happens when you don’t have playoff football for a decade. 

Now, there are some unanswered questions regarding the release, which actually goes back to the benching. Was it Ralph Wilson’s call? Was it Buddy Nix and Chan Gailey working together? I mean, the Bills pretty much handed the starting job to Edwards over the summer and if the team really thought he was the unquestioned guy, don’t you think they would have given him more than two games? Not to mention, the quarterback competition didn’t really exist (Sorry, Chan, but you can’t BS me about how close the minicamps battle were) and it makes me wonder if someone within the Bills organization forced Edwards upon Gailey (Ralph? Modrak, maybe?).

 Look, I’m not disagreeing with the benching or the release, but it’s kind of strange that we are only 3 weeks removed from the Bills anointing him as a reborn quarterback and now, he’s been served his walking papers. Anyways, that’s all a mute point because Edwards is finally gone and I’m totally fine with it. It’s just strange how it happened.

Now if you want to pinpoint what went wrong for Edwards, I’ll make it simple: Edwards started playing better teams that started to catch up to his style. It happens a lot to NFL quarterbacks. Happened to Drew Bledsoe in Buffalo. Happened to Kordell Steward in Pittsburgh. Happened to Jake Plummer in Arizona. Some guys are just flash in the pans and can’t take the next step in evolving. I know some will blame the concussion in Arizona as a reason for Edwards faltering, but I don’t buy it. Edwards still played well against the Chargers two weeks later and it’s not like he didn’t suffer injuries in college. Hell, that’s why he dropped in the draft. In a nutshell: Edwards stunk.

Anyways, the Edwards era is finally over. It’s funny, because I wonder if the Bills decided to waive Edwards to make their fan base happy, because they didn’t want to hear the fallout for Kelsay possibly staying put for 24 million. Frankly, the Kelsay extension gets me more up in arms than being happy for Edwards getting cut.