PDaDdy

I agree the same thing happened with JP. That guy was scared as hell to throw down the field and never took chances....Oh...wait.....riiiiiiiight.

If he actually throws the ball more than 12 yards in the air and more importantly hits a WR on target and in stride you will be AMAZED at how many plays we will have that start working.

About 28 games was all it took to tell that Losman wasn't the guy and they yanked him in favor of Edwards. Edwards is at 26 and counting. It's not like we haven't done it before.

Is the rule change really screwing us up on the kick return game or have we lost personnel? We ranked in the top 3 or 5 for the last few years as well as being #1 at least twice I believe. Current we rank: Kick Returns 20th Kicking 12th Punting 10th With our ineptitude on offense and a defense that could spend a lot of time on the field we really need to get back to our #1 spot in the often forgotten 3rd phase of the game.

It's easy to answer why he doesn't. Handing off the ball is the ultimate check down!

That was a big waste of resources switching personnel to match his scheme. I'm not in the camp that likes to lay everything at the feet of Ralph and the coaches although many things can be attributed to them. Why do you bring in a former defensive coordinator specialist to be the head coach of a team that already has the #2 defense using a different scheme with different talent? I know there were issues with Wade Phillips and his special teams guy that he stood by and eventually lost his job but damn.

That's funny I don't recall Jauron lining up at QB and throwing check downs all day when the WRs were open beyond 10 - 15 yards? I must have missed that. I also must have missed when a vast majority of times when Jauron audibled at the line of scrimmage the result was a safe and often unproductive run play. I don't know. I seem to recall something about Schonert getting fired because he wouldn't scale down the play book and things were to complex. If they did simplify the play book finally for Edwards you either get it or you don't. You can't coach smart which is something I thought Edwards was. Any regression Edwards has suffered is his own mental failing in my opinion. This guy was given the start a few weeks into his rookie season. He was never jerked in and out of the line up every few weeks. They fired an offensive coordinator that couldn't get anything out of him. They revamped his entire line because supposedly the old one sucked. He has 2 great RBs. They go get him a multi pro bowl soon to be hall of fame WR....AND STILL HE FAILS!!!!! What more can you do for the guy? I have no doubt in my mind that an aging veteran like Farve could come in here and make this a 10 - 6 team with his eyes closed.

Besides most of the league shifting to the 3 - 4 it appears that we will be seeing a lot more of this. On a positive note we will eventually get some experience playing against it if several games over the that last 2 years haven't been enough.

I thought I saw this and recall that an announcer made some comment on it. Given Trent's inability to play against the 3 - 4 defense Gregg Williams decided to run almost exclusively the 3 - 4 especially for us instead of their normal mix with the 4 - 3. http://www.buffalonews.com/452/story/811043.html "The Saints usually play a 4-3 defense, but Williams has employed a lot of 3-4 this season. Given how the Bills have struggled with the 3-4 scheme, it's no surprise that Williams used it almost exclusively on Sunday." The struggle continues.

WOW. Actually I did miss that!!! If that wasn't a typo that is even more damning. If TO had said that you would have every talking head chirping about how he was so selfish and a bad team mate etc. Lee Evans says it and it goes nearly completely ignored by the national media. Regardless of who said it....it's on the money. Fix it and fix it fast. Unless of course we are tanking the season to let the line develop and draft a real, strong armed QB in the 2010 draft.

This is another facet of the whole issue that I'm really torn on. We are all tired of looking for the next Jim Kelly. We had brief moments of relief when Bledsoe played well for part of a year and Flutie gave us some Flutie magic but other than that it's pretty much been disappointment after disappointment. A big part of me wants Trent to magically grow a set and start playing with some more gun slinger in him. I know it's not the end all be all that the defenders try to make it. But.....I love RB with speed and I love QBs with big arms! You don't need those things to be successful BUT they allow you to do things that other guys just can't do!!! A RB with 4.3 or even 4.27 speed like Chris Johnson flat out can just do somethings that a RB with 4.6 CAN'T do. A QB with a big arm is just going to be able to make certain throws and throw the ball late or fit it into tiny windows that a QB with a less than stellar arm CAN'T. Look at all of the young guns that are out there in the league that are actually successful: Phillip Rivers Eli Manning Jay Cutler Joe Flacco Matt Ryan Mark Sanchez (Early to tell but the kid looks promising as hell) Ben Rothlesberger Aaron Rodgers I dare you to find someone in there who has an equivalent or weaker arm than Edwards!!!!

And your point is?

Unfortunately I might have to make this my signature again in reference to our chances for success this year with Trent after we face the Dolphins. Trent is about as observant as Stevie Wonder reading a 3 - 4 defense. Here we go again.

Agreed. I think that is perhaps the strongest emotion I feel, second to frustration of course, is that this is shameful and embarrassing! How are you unable to utilize those two guys. We have 2 1000yd WRs and we have wasted them. Absolutely terrible. Reminds me of that old cartoon will the furry little cave man that flew around... Captain CHEEEEccccKKKDOOOOOOOOOOWNNNNN!

Many are trying to make something of TO's emotionless face and how curt he was in a post game interview regarding the Saints' game. The real story is the post game commentary of Lee Evans below. I don't think it takes too much to interpret his comments as being directed at Captain Checkdown while doing it in a mature tactful way. From CBS sports "It's frustrating, very frustrating," said Evans. "We just didn't take chances when he had to or needed to or could have. That's the most frustrating part. We had opportunities and we didn't take them. Our defense played great and offensively we had no support for them."

It's been up and down no doubt. But I must remind you of last year? Trent has built up a body of work that is worth considering!!!!

I've said it several times not but "You can't coach balls!" Trent seems like a great guy but if you can't or are unwilling to throw down field, over 10 yards, you aren't a good fit for the NFL.

Pretty much says it all doesn't it? Not sure what the numbers look like for other QBs but I'm gonna guess that those numbers are some of the worst! If Trent doesn't like the Checkdown moniker GROW A SET AND THROW DOWN FIELD!!!

"IT" is something special, but if you don't know the answer to that one by now...

SPOT ON!!!! On said a few years ago it we could make a Frankenstein QB out of JP and Trent we would be in good shape.

"COME ONE MAAAANNNNNN?" He over threw TO on a possible TD by a good 4 yards or more. You can't ask a guy to run faster than he is capable of to make up for a poorly thrown ball!!!

My opinion of course. I wouldn't say his passes of 25 yds and under are ok I would say 12 yards and under. Talking about how far the ball goes in the air not including run after the catch.

Ah. I think I get your point on that. He will take an obligatory look down field but in the end he just throws short. The coaches aren't telling him to throw short but his interpretation of their desire to not make mistakes is to not take risk and check down.

Well at least they tried one slant. TO wasn't actually open on that play by the way.

Don't bother with that. You'll get people complaining that it's the WR job to slow down for the under thrown ball and out muscle a defender instead of continuing to run in stride and streak to the end zone. It's either that or you over throw a wide open guy by 4 yards preventing yet another TD. Shades of JP on a bad day you say?