Orchard Park, NY (WGR 550) -- Trent Edwards has completed 20 of 25 passes this preseason which is 80-percent of his throws. The problem is as it's been ever since he took over the reigns from J.P. Losman is he can't get the Bills into the end zone. Edwards claims he's playing the way he's coached and challenged Jerry Sullivan to do better, "There really haven't been any looks. You've watched the games as I have and I don't know if you've seen any throws I could've made down the field. If you want to call the plays and throw the ball down field, that's fine but I'm taking what the defense is giving me, continuing to go through my reads and that's the way I'm coached. We have coaches that are paid a lot of money to coach me that way and that's the plays that are being made and that's what I need to do and not get outside of it." I asked Dick Jauron if Edwards needs to get rid of the ball faster and he said, "No, I didn't to be honest with you. The first interception I said after the game, maybe, maybe it couldn't have gotten but maybe it could've. But I felt the defender made a terrific play, I still think that. He did a nice job of holding his ground, he broke on the ball, he got his hand on the ball and it popped up in the air just right, so they made a nice play. He wasn't as sharp as you'd like him to be and I think he would say that, too. But he's done a good job for us and we just have to feel like he'll grow from experience, too. We talked about the 3-4. Good for us to see it. They pressured a lot, that was really good for us to see, and hopefully we'll improve from there and we'll get another 3-4 team
this week."
As for injuries Demetrius Bell left early. Jauron said, "Demetrius Bell twinged his back a little bit so we took him in to do
some tests and hopefully it's not bad."
Aaron Schobel hurt his elbow in the Green Bay game and will miss a week or maybe a little longer.
Terrell Owens still wasn't at practice. Jauron said, "Terrell's doing better. According to Bud (Carpenter) and him, obviously I talk to him too. He says it feels a lot better. We won't bring him back onto the field though until we feel like it's all the way
back to where it was. It doesn't make any sense for us to do that. So it's critical that he does get back as soon as he can to get the timing and get his reps in and get his work done."
Others not practicing were James Hardy, Ashlee Palmer, Pat Thomas, Travis McCall, Drayton Florence and Felton Huggins. DE Marcus Smith returned to practice.
Aaron Maybin had his first practice with the Bills since ending his holdout Friday. The DE had a sack of Ryan Fitzpatrick right off the bat. He said, "Very exciting. It was good to finally get back on the field and be with the guys again. Just making sure that I get back into football shape. I did a pretty good job of keeping myself in shape while everybody was in camp but
obviously when you've got all this added weight on you it's a little bit more difficult. But it felt great. I had a pretty good day today. coaching staff, we're going to sit down a little bit later on and evaluate things so we can get a more accurate assessment of where I'm at, but I feel good for the first day."
HEAD COACH DICK JAURON
Practice - Monday, August 24, 2009
On T Demetrius Bell:
Demetrius Bell twinged his back a little bit so we took him in to do
some tests and hopefully it's not bad.
On if they were holding RB Marshawn Lynch back in practice today:
No, we weren't holding him back. I thought he had a good practice he
practiced hard.
On if Lynch took the usual number of reps today:
Yeah, I would say that he did. If not it's not by many.
On rookie DE Aaron Maybin having a lot of adrenaline at today's
practice:
He hasn't exerted a lot of energy here for us for awhile, so I guess he
had it stored up, but that's good.
On DE Aaron Schobel's injury:
Aaron (Schobel) is an elbow and they may keep him out for awhile here.
We don't think it'll be a problem, long, long term, but it could be a
week or so. Maybe more than that.
On WR Terrell Owens:
Terrell's (Owens) doing better. According to Bud (Carpenter) and him,
obviously I talk to him too. He says it feels a lot better. We won't
bring him back onto the field though until we feel like it's all the way
back to where it was. It doesn't make any sense for us to do that. So
it's critical that he does get back as soon as he can to get the timing
and get his reps in and get his work done.
On Owens' absence being a reason for the way offense looked in
Saturday's game:
The presence of Terrell Owens on the field for whoever he's played for
has been a factor in their performance. He's a very, very good football
player, so he's missed. But the game in Green Bay, just way too many
turnovers. We were just too loose with the football and too many
penalties. We had done a pretty good job in that area, in both areas,
just the game got out of hand. You just can't do that and win football
games. We'll just keep looking at it, talking about it and we're
certainly aware of it. Nobody was happy with what happened there in the
first half.
On the importance of the offense making significant progress the rest of
the preseason:
We always want to get better. There's no doubt about it. It's just hard
to quantify it, to say how important it is to me. It's important that we
improve every day. It's important that they come out here with a great
attitude every day and work at it and give us all the effort that they
have. What happens on the field, you have some control over, not total.
I'm talking about them and certainly us as coaches. We just try to do
the best we can all the time. When it starts for real, we're going to
have to be very good to challenge anybody in our division. Our division
is very, very talented. This whole league is, so we've got a long way to
go and daily improvement is something that we have to strive for.
On looking at Saturday's film and thinking QB Trent Edwards needs to
release the ball quicker:
No, I didn't to be honest with you. The first interception I said after
the game, maybe, maybe it couldn't have gotten but maybe it could've.
But I felt the defender made a terrific play, I still think that. He did
a nice job of holding his ground, he broke on the ball, he got his hand
on the ball and it popped up in the air just right, so they made a nice
play. He wasn't as sharp as you'd like him to be and I think he would
say that, too. But he's done a good job for us and we just have to feel
like he'll grow from experience, too. We talked about the 3-4. Good for
us to see it. They pressured a lot, that was really good for us to see,
and hopefully we'll improve from there and we'll get another 3-4 team
this week.
On it being important for Owens to be back for this game where starters
usually play the longest:
I can't say that it's critically important. I can't say that. We just
need to get him back as soon as he's healthy enough to get back on the
field. Clearly he knows how to play in the National Football League, but
everybody needs their timing and work on the field to work with the
quarterbacks particularly, so we'll get him back as quickly as we can.
DEFENSIVE END AARON MAYBIN
Practice - Monday, August 24, 2009
On his first practice being exciting:
Very exciting. It was good to finally get back on the field and be with
the guys again.
On the biggest thing on the field today:
Just making sure that I get back into football shape. I did a pretty
good job of keeping myself in shape while everybody was in camp but
obviously when you've got all this added weight on you it's a little bit
more difficult. But it felt great. I had a pretty good day today.
Coaching staff, we're going to sit down a little bit later on and
evaluate things so we can get a more accurate assessment of where I'm
at, but I feel good for the first day.
On getting off to a good start with the team today:
I've been doing a lot of work with my trainer back home and then out
here we have Joe Kim back with us working out. So I got a couple in with
him yesterday and I got a couple in with him today, so I feel good about
where I'm at. I know I've got a lot of catching up to do still, still
trying to catch up as far as the playbook goes, but for where I'm at
right now, I think that I'm making pretty good progress.
On the off-speed pitch:
I know what my moves are that I'm working on. I'm definitely trying to
perfect those as much as possible, but obviously that's only going to
come with repetition. One of my problems is I kind of want everything to
be perfect the first time I do it. So obviously some things are going to
come with time, but coach has always said that he's going to continue to
tell me throughout the rest of this preseason work and into the season
that as long as I don't get frustrated, as long as I just do what he
asks me to do, as long as he's happy, I'm happy.
On dropping back in coverage:
Yeah they had me dropping a few times. Shawn (Nelson) was still able to
haul that pass in. I'm sure he's going to be talking about that for the
rest of the day but it's all good. I'm really excited about some of the
things that they're trying to do with me. I think it's going to be a
really, really good opportunity for me.
On the biggest positive from today's performance:
Just being able to get back out here, throw the pads on and being able
to compete. That's always been what I love about the game and it's
always going to be what I love about the game. Obviously I missed the
guys, missed the team and missed the coaching staff. Now that I'm back
I'm definitely trying to make the most of it.
On being well adjusted to the speed of the game:
The speed of the game's never been a problem for me. I don't have any
problems with that.
On feeling pressure to make a big impact:
Not at all. I obviously have high expectations for myself, but I never
feel any pressure. I try to tune all that stuff out.
On rookies receiving slack from the veterans:
I've got Marcus' (Stroud) pads over there. He said he's been waiting all
training camp for that, so it's all good. You take your licks for being
the rookie and that's fine. I have don't have any problems with all of
that.
QUARTERBACK TRENT EDWARDS
Practice - Monday, August 24, 2009
On Saturday's performance:
We were pretty frustrated. Obviously watching the film there's some
plays that we'd like to have back and too many mistakes. You look at it
and there are penalties, there are turnovers and anytime you're down
21-0 that's probably going to happen. I thought our defense played
pretty well, our special teams played pretty well and a lot of it was on
the offense. We're going to have games like that so we're going to need
to find a way to kind of stop the domino effect and change the way we're
playing, and that's kind of what the preseason is for to kind of iron
out those kinks. I thought we had a good practice today and I thought we
had a good film session this morning.
On Saturday's game being a setback for the team:
Not at all. I was talking to the guys this morning in the quarterback
room and that's the first live 3-4 defense that we've faced. We haven't
faced a team like that all preseason long and we haven't faced a team
like that since New England at the end of the season. I don't know how
many 4-I techniques (OL) Eric Wood's sat on before and that's kind of
what it's there for. That's what we need to do. We need to play against
those teams and we need have live contact and that's what we got on
Saturday night and that's what we're going to get again on Saturday
night.
On not having WR Terrell Owens being a factor in building the chemistry
on the offense:
No. I think anytime any player is out obviously you can't build
chemistry, you can't build any rhythm with them. Any injured guy we need
to have them out there if we can and if they're healthy. And hopefully
we'll have him back out this week but that's kind of good that it's
happening now. It's better that we have guys hurt right now and not
playing versus during the regular season.
On throwing the ball down the field being an issue:
There hasn't really been any looks. You've watched the games just like I
have. I don't know if you've seen any throws that I could've down the
field, that's your own to comment on that. But if you want to call the
plays and throw the ball down the field that's fine. I'm taking what the
defense is giving me, I'm continuing to go through my reads and that's
kind of the way I'm coached. We have coaches that are paid a lot of
money to coach me that way and that's kind of the plays that are being
made. And that's kind of what I need to do is go through my progression
and not get outside of it.
On the coaches talking to him about not being fearful or timid; pulling
the trigger faster:
No. That wasn't discussed between me and the head coach. Obviously we
need to do that. That's part of any successful offense, you've got to
throw the ball down the field, you need to score points and that's
something that we're not doing right now. But there's no reason why we
can't do that in the future.
On the starting offense needing to improve:
Yeah I think we'll have a great week of practice this week. This will be
the most emphasis on the opposing defense we'll have in any preseason
game. I don't think we've had any scout team looks against any of the
preseason teams we've faced. Hopefully we'll some later in the week, but
the Steelers are a good football team. They play well at home, they're
very well-coached just like we are and we've got to be able to play at a
high level. We haven't done that the past couple of games. We've got to
put some points on the board, we've got to score some touchdowns and
obviously this week they'll be more of an emphasis on that.
On how much of an issue not finding the end zone has been in the
preseason:
Obviously that's something that we need to be able to do. That's kind of
what I said before though, it's better that it's happening now. We have
ways of changing things up and again, I don't want to take away from the
importance of the preseason, but again, we're not throwing everything
out there. We're not throwing the kitchen sink out there right now. We
still have a ton of plays in our playbook that we're going to go to and
we're going to make adjustments, we're going to study game plans a
little bit more. You look at the Green Bay Packers, last week they had
49 plays on tape that I could've watched of the Cleveland Browns, the
game before. Forty-nine plays of a brand new defense with a brand new
defensive coordinator, is tough to do at a quarterback position. Derek
Anderson and Brady Quinn when they were in there, had a tough time much
like I did, and it was tough because we didn't really have a lot of tape
to look at. They're standing up Aaron Kampman now which they haven't
done before in the past, they're giving us secondary looks that they've
never done before so there was no use watching last year's tape. But
again that's a very good football team. They have a great secondary,
they're very well-coached and obviously we need to do better this week.
On rookie TE Shawn Nelson:
I've been very impressed with Shawn (Nelson). He's come a long way. I
really feel like we have him at the F position right now, which is a lot
for him to handle but I think he's doing a great job. He's learning on
the go. I think that he's not making the same mistakes over and over
again. I mean he would say he has a long way to go, much like everyone
else on this team does, but I feel like the thing that those young guys
can't do is they can't keep making the same mistakes and I don't think
that he's still doing that.
On how badly he wants to get more work with Owens:
Any injured player you want to have him back out there. You want to get
them back out on the field and obviously he's going to be a big piece of
this offense during the regular season. So the sooner we have him back
out there, the sooner we can get on the same page and it's going to be
necessary for him to get back whenever he can, when he's healthy. Like I
said before, we don't need to be running guys out there on the field
right now that are injured and not playing at a high level, and
hopefully we'll get to that point where the guys are healthy and all can
go.
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