There’s no way his skill set (if truly diminished) would be as limited as Josh Reed’s in the #2 role last year. Owens won’t be used as a decoy – nor should he. Evans has proven one thing: home-run threat. There’s no way that anyone can expect Edwards to consistently toss the ball 30 or 40 yards over the top of a DB for Evans. If Evans can become a bit like TO and work the middle of the field more, then I could see him becoming the focal point.

I think it has to be a symbiotic relationship with Evans and Owens. One won’t lead the team to the playoffs. I forsee a Moulds/Price-like season in terms of potential.

frankly I don’t care who should lead the team in receptions. for all we know Josh Reed may lead the team. whoever gets opens the most and holds onto the ball providing YAC is what’s important. ideally I would like to see evans and owens have a proportionate amount and reed have slightly less. makes it difficult for other teams to decide who they should focus on. throw in a developing TE’s group and the bills could be onto something.
Owens can be made the scapegoat in Dallas but the fact is Romo faded badly and Witten was banged up. many more factors went into that team failing besides Owens.

This just shows how important Trent’s decision making will be.

Teams will feel us out through out the season and look at who we favor. Turk needs to be creative with the play calling and play design and Trent needs to throw to the open receiver….easy huh?

In my opinion I don’t think Owens was brought in to really take a ton of coverage off Lee (though it will probablyhappen as a resulte). He was brought in to turn FG into TD. And I think he will do that and help improve other things as a result such as: Josh Reed gets to stick to the slot where he excels. And let’s say TO doesn’t get guys out of the box for a WR he is a pretty good blocker – as is Reed, watch for run plays to go to their side…

When teams rolled to Owens, he was not the same player, so the Cowboys had to motion to create space.

Having Owens on the opposite side will open up the offense. If a defense wants to effectively cover both Evans and Owens, they have to play a cover two which allows Owens’ corner to press. That leaves only the front seven to stop the run, and the TE, RB, and slot WR are all in man coverage. I’d take that all day if I were Edwards.

If the defense doesn’t play a cover two and rolls coverage to Evans, Owens’ corner can’t press all the time, and the route tree opens up for Owens.

If the defense rolls coverage to Owens, Evans will do exactly what Lombardi says.

It’s foolish for a defense to play cover two, commiting four DB’s to cover two WR. So Edwards will likely see coverage rolled to Evans…. and Owens won’t have to motion to beat the press.

It’s not Owens or Evens or Lynch or even Turk. It’s completely on Trent Edwards shoulders like Brian wrote when he made him the #1 Key to 2009. Trent has to see what the D is giving him and make a decision. He’s got to be able to say “shut up Turk, you’re wrong, we’re pitching to the weak side because I hit TO twice and Reed once this drive on the strong side. And no, I will not allow a reverse to parrish! Reverses should only be used three times ALL season. God!”

It doesn’t matter to whom the Coverage rolls to; Trent the triggerman decides who to hit.

Front page material, IMO.

Great fanpost. I’ve got a bunch of thoughts, but I’m not really sure what they add up to.

The first is that I think you were smart to leave Josh Reed off the poll. Unless injuries strike, I can’t imagine him leading the team in catches. And if he does, it’s probably very bad news for Trent and his ability to throw the ball down the field. What slot receiver has ever lead his team in catches? And Wes Welker doesn’t count, when NE only puts 2 WRs on the field, Welker is one of them and he is always higher on NE’s progressions then Reed will be this year.

Rolling coverage is kind of a vague term. Every team is going to give safety help to a CB covering a player like Evans. The thought that Owens was going to leave Evans with regular single coverage was pretty crazy. Evans may have fewer LBs and nickel corners hanging around him in zone and teams might try and get away with some cover 1 where the FS will be forced to cover a lot more ground with TO around, but the coverage on Evans isn’t going to change a ton. He’s just too good of a deep threat for teams to not try and take that away from him.

Another thing to consider with coverage is whether or not teams will blitz. Evans was more succesful early in the season when teams were still testing Trent. Are teams really going to blitz Trent, or will four man rushes get pressure on a question mark of an offensive line?

While Evans dealt with a lot of coverage last year, it has to be pointed out that he didn’t deal with anything more difficult than a lot of other WRs who have still been much better statistically. With no viable 2nd receiver, Roddy White has been spectacular for a couple seasons in a row. Antonio Bryant was the only receiver on Tampa’s roster that opposing teams had to worry about and he had numbers very similiar to Evans’ 06 campaign. Calvin Johnson did it alone last year and Steve Smith has had some ridiculous seasons without help. Evans’ numbers won’t magically improve because TO is here. Considerable statistical improvement will have to come from Trent taking a big step forward.

The impact of TO isn’t that Evans becomes a bigger threat. It’s that Evans doesn’t have to become a bigger threat. Buffalo doesn’t need him to be a 1,300+ yard superstar like Smith, Johnson (A. or C.) or White. Being a 65 catch, 1,000 yard, elite deep threat is plenty good when you’ve got a 6’3, 225 pound player who hasn’t averaged fewer than 4 catches per game since his rookie season.

I voted for TO based off my belief that the coverage on Evans isn’t going to change a ton and my opinion that Evans isn’t a great WR when he can’t run straight for 15 yards to start his route and I think that the Bills are going to use TO in a lot of short, possesion type routes this year. I think you’ll see Owens doing his best Josh Reed impression a decent percentage of the time with 8-10 yard curls and outs. I think TO catches 70+ balls next year, which shouldn’t be a ton more than Evans, but a balanced attack is probably ideal anyways.