It goes somewhat hand in hand with Trusting his receivers, but if we see scared Trent again this year, we have no chance. He needs to make the throws that he was too scared or unwilling to make last year.

I think Trent will have a lot of success in a no-huddle scheme simply because he won’t have to think as much out there. He can just go out and play, and make the throws we need him to make. The no huddle also fits our skill players’ abilities quite well.

I agree that he needs to be a leader this year. Last year he was just another player on offense. This year, he needs to be the player on offense. He needs to control this offense, keep the receivers under control and finally lead us to points consistently.

Don’t be scared to piss teammates off

but that sentence really doesn’t sound like the right approach. The goal should be for Trent to hold his offense accountable and motivate them to give their best.

Lots of good points in this article….I especially liked the comment about being the “alpha male”. Haha

with the weapons we have Trent has to take more risks and be more accurate with his throws when doing so, the rest will fall into place if he can stay healthy. No QB should struggle with his stable of weapons, at least not good a QB.

Brian, question. Does a terrible quarterback who has in your face, rallying leadership become a below average QB? Or does he stay terrible?

Yet Terrell Owens has not one piece of meaningful NFL hardware even while putting up one of the most gaudy statistical careers of any receiver to ever play the game. Why? It’s not a playmaker’s league. It’s a quarterback’s league.

well said!

It needs to be Trent’s Offense not the Bills Offense if you know what I mean. if it is no huddle it is the T-Gun.

Trent also has to own the huddle and the line of scrimmage. make the other players look to him for the leadership the offense and ultimately the whole team needs.

all great points on what Edwards needs to do to make 2009 a successful season. IMO, the two players that are here now, that weren’t in 2009 that will really differentiate 2009 from 2008….(drum roll please….)…….Shawn Nelson and Hangartner. Trent Edwards is a straight up the middle type of guy. He needs Hangartner to trust and to make the proper adjustments on the fly to help protect Edwards. And Nelson is the kind of athletic, big target TE, that I think Edwards will fall in love with as he loves the throws between the hashes, which is why he loves Josh Reed so much.

Yes we can all talk about the addition of T.O., our stud backfield, or our possibly problematic LT….but look straight ahead folks…..A solid center and a good pass-catching TE, is exactly what the doctor ordered for our QB of the future

With the front office making the moves that they have made this year, I believe that they are telling Trent that this is his year and his team.

If you look back at his first year he had to look over his shoulder and into a divided locker room with JP still in the mix. Then last year the team was filled with overpaid offensive lineman and TE’s who were more interested in talking to Chris Brown at OBD or the other reporters than blocking. Was anybody else sick of seeing Duke Preston get interviewed after every game saying “things are gettin better up front”? I am sure Trent didn’t feel comfortable or got very little response when he got mad a Jason Peters or Dock for blowing another assignment. With him being a 3rd round draft pick and them having the huge contracts, I am sure they just rolled there eyes at him.

Yes T.O. and Lee are on the team but Lee has never been a vocal type leader and T.O, due to his one year deal, has to be on his best behavior so he can cash in after this year with one final contract. So now Trent has to step up and be the type of leaders that the elite QB’s are.

I still question the whole no-huddle idea because we are talking about DJ as our coach and he has never been about anything close to a no huddle or hurry up coach. He has stated many times that ball control and good D wins football games. Don’t get me wrong I would love to see it and I think Trent would flourish in it I just don’t see it happening.

DJ just has to let his coaches coach and stay the heck out of the way. look at Indy for an example. Dungy never messed with the offense and just tweaked the defense. Seemed to work for him.

Was actually in downtown Buffalo, not Orchard Park.

Sorry, had to say it :)

I agree, with the points on Edwards, he should be quicker at reading defenses this year, his productivity in the second half shows he has capacity to learn and adapt. He has the tools. It’s all about winning games in the end. This is the year where Edwards is expected to effectively led. Love the idea of more No huddle. Are young OL are perfect for that system. I dunno about Chambers and Langston. D. Bell. Get good.

This is one of the better sports blogs, and you’re doing great job, dude. Thanks. I needs my Bills fixes. You’ve done a great job of building a community, and I’d expect more, as the Bills are on the verge returning to the old typical playoff contenders on a year-to-year. I like Jauron, although we kid him about the DBs, he’s big on smart and tough and that, given time, will work. I hate starting over with new coaches.

This to me is one of the most important things Trent has to do to get over the hump. Earlier in this thread, I read a lot of comments about not playing scared. Part of this is trusting that your receivers are going to break toward the spot where your going to throw the ball. Last season, particularly post concussion, Trent seemed to “look” the ball into his receivers hands. This was pointed out a number of times by analysts covering the games. The first Miami game sticks out because the arm-strength challenged Pennington was putting on a clinic on anticipating where his receivers were going to be. It was obvious that Trent was not on the same page as his receiving comrades. It’s no wonder the physical, sure handed Josh Reed became an important target because Trent could look at him and pull the trigger. With Owens, he has a physical intermediate/deep target (sure handed omission was intentional) that will win most battles as well. But Edwards still needs to anticipate better and act on his anticipation much more often to be successful and lead this team to the next level.

The interior line will have to learn fast about zone blitzes, Richard Seymour and the other 3-4 DLs in the AFC East are just monsters. Realistically I’d put the Bills on a three year plan to get back to the playoffs and do something. I think all the right seeds are planted. You can’t expect them to bear fruit in one year or two years. So 10 wins is a reasonable goal. Of course we could catch lightening in a bottle in a few of these draft picks. More FAs and rookies next year, more experience for our solid core.