Buffalo Bills Release Starting QB Trent Edwards

Added on Sep 27, 2010 by Jason Kearney in

NFL

Covering the NFL isn’t easy–sometimes you just can’t keep up with a story. I was putting the finishing touches on an article about the Buffalo Bills benching Trent Edwards in favor of Ryan Fitzpatrick and trying to trade their former starting quarterback when a report came across the teletype wire here at SportsBetting World headquarters that completely invalidated what I’d just written. Ryan Fitzpatrick is ‘the man’ now in Buffalo as the Bills have just released Trent Edwards. The team announced the move in a tersely written two sentence statement. Coach Chan Gailey will address the media on the situation later today.

It’s a shocking move in its suddenness, though generally I have to agree that Ryan Fitzpatrick has more upside. It’s not like the Bills were ‘that into’ Edwards anyway–he’d lost his starting gig for the second time in two years so in the big picture its probably best for all parties involved. Buffalo’s desire to turn the team over to Fitzpatrick was apparent as early as last week–Gailey announced the change he said he that Fitzpatrick was ”going to take the reins and see where that takes us.”

He ended up taking the team to a surprisingly competitive effort against the New England Patriots on the road at Foxboro–Fitzpatrick threw for 247 yards with two touchdowns—and two interceptions—as the Bills lost to New England Patriots 38-30. Of greater significance is the fact that he generated some potency in a left for dead offense. Fitzpatrick sounded a lot like a team leader with this statement after the game:

“We felt like we had a chance and we came up short. The offense played better today, but it’s all about winning.”

Bills’ coach Chan Gailey wants to see Fitzpatrick improve his decision making without hampering his willingness to make plays:

“He’s always trying to make a play. You’ve got to give him credit for that. I don’t want to temper him, but I want him to be smart.”

At this point, Fitzpatrick just needs to improve his decision making but he’s clearly a guy with a good head for the game. Basically, he’s a guy with a good head for *anything* since he graduated from noted ‘football factory’ Harvard University. With today’s move Buffalo has put the team in his highly educated hands, and made it clear that he’s just not an ‘interim’ starter.