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We debate back-and-forth on here a lot about Trent Edwards' quick release vs. his penchant to check down. Some see it that he reads coverages quickly and gets rid of the ball to (who he feels will be) the open receiver as quick as he can. Others believe he takes the first available check-down because he simply can't throw the deep ball effectively enough and is unwilling to take the chance. All depends on your biases either way.
Most Bills fans probably didn't see Trent play in college very much, if at all. However, one of my former players was Trent's teammate for three years at Stanford, and I watched them every Saturday if I was available. Granted, I didn't pay close attention to Edwards specifically (because who knew he'd be a Bill?), but I can tell you that he was one of the only good things about that team for a few years. And I really think he developed a quicker release AND a penchant for checking down quicker than he should while he was at Stanford because he was getting the **** beat out of him so much.
Stanford was a bad football team before Edwards got there, while he was there, and after he left. But while he was under center, they had NO receivers, their OLine was putrid, and their defense and special teams didn't help very much. His senior year, Stanford QBs were sacked 50 times for -359 yards!! And Edwards only played 7 of those games due to injury, so it didn't matter what QB was there - they all got hammered!
Trent's sophomore season, his only decent and real threat catching the ball was Alex Smith....a TIGHT END! And when your TE has to catch a lot of passes, that means he 'aint staying in to block for you, which is what they really needed someone to do there for Trent, because he was getting killed or running for his life almost every time he dropped back.
So, my point is, that 3-4 years of him getting pressured so easily, and knocked around so much, has caused him to have a quicker trigger both mentally and physically.
I met Alex Smith at his football camp last month and asked him about Trent and said, "the knock on him is he can't throw the deep ball." Alex's response to me was: "It's hard to throw deep when you're on your back all the time." Granted, he was referring to when he played with him in college and not as a member of the Bills, but that statement relates directly to what I'm talking about.
Most Bills fans probably didn't see Trent play in college very much, if at all. However, one of my former players was Trent's teammate for three years at Stanford, and I watched them every Saturday if I was available. Granted, I didn't pay close attention to Edwards specifically (because who knew he'd be a Bill?), but I can tell you that he was one of the only good things about that team for a few years. And I really think he developed a quicker release AND a penchant for checking down quicker than he should while he was at Stanford because he was getting the **** beat out of him so much.
Stanford was a bad football team before Edwards got there, while he was there, and after he left. But while he was under center, they had NO receivers, their OLine was putrid, and their defense and special teams didn't help very much. His senior year, Stanford QBs were sacked 50 times for -359 yards!! And Edwards only played 7 of those games due to injury, so it didn't matter what QB was there - they all got hammered!
Trent's sophomore season, his only decent and real threat catching the ball was Alex Smith....a TIGHT END! And when your TE has to catch a lot of passes, that means he 'aint staying in to block for you, which is what they really needed someone to do there for Trent, because he was getting killed or running for his life almost every time he dropped back.
So, my point is, that 3-4 years of him getting pressured so easily, and knocked around so much, has caused him to have a quicker trigger both mentally and physically.
I met Alex Smith at his football camp last month and asked him about Trent and said, "the knock on him is he can't throw the deep ball." Alex's response to me was: "It's hard to throw deep when you're on your back all the time." Granted, he was referring to when he played with him in college and not as a member of the Bills, but that statement relates directly to what I'm talking about.
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