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Posted: Thursday, 20 November 2008 6:08AM
Schonert speaks
Nick Mendola
nick@wgr550.com
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It's no secret that the Buffalo Bills have had struggles behind center lately, and one of the most talked-about figures in the Bills' offensive drama spoke to it Wednesday during Week Twelve's Media Day.
So, Turk Schonert, what did the Cleveland Browns do to stump Trent Edwards?
"They had a game plan, and they probably talked to Bill Belichick because we played the week before and they did the same types of things," Edwards said. "They sat in the same coverage the whole time. They were going to make us run the football."
And run the football the Bills did, to the tune of 186 yards in their 29-27 Monday night loss to the Cleveland Browns. They ran so well, Schonert said, that after Edwards connected with Robert Royal to put the Bills at the Cleveland 34 yard-line with 1:33 to play, they ran three more times, convinced it was their best option to score. In fact, Marshawn Lynch had an opening, according to Schonert.
"We just ran for 180 yards on them, they were tired," Schonert said. "We thought we could pop one. The very first one had a chance at a cutback to go a long way. We bounced it out and that one could have hit the end zone if we cut it back. We were running the ball well. We wanted them to use their timeouts. They had a lot of time left, all three timeouts. The guy just made a 56-yard field goal, so it’s not that they have to go a long ways to kick the field goal. We got in field goal range to win the game. Unfortunately we didn’t get the kick."
It's not that the Bills didn't try to go deep, Schonert said. Heck, they looked for Lee Evans several times, despite his zero catches.
"It wasn't that we didn't try," Schonert said. "He was open three, four times down the field, and Trent went elsewhere with the ball. Believe me, I tried to get him the ball. He's our money guy... He didn't disappear. He was there. He played hard. I dialed up his number a few times, half a dozen times. It was just one of those nights he didn't get it."
The majority of the interview dealt with Edwards' four-week struggle, including his three interceptions against the Browns.
"Every time out is a learning experience for him. The first one out is just bad luck, but the other two were on him. He's just gotta learn. You see Peyton Manning do it all the time where they just play cover two, cover two, cover two, drop eight, and he keeps hitting Joseph Addai. That's what happened with Marshawn."
Did the three picks shake the young passer?
"He's not scared, he's young. Everybody forgets that. We got off to a great start and we had some comebacks... but he's young then and he's young now. He made some mistakes, and he's gotta learn from them and he will. He's not one to force balls, but he did a couple times this week., and it's the first time he's faced eight defenders. You just gotta learn to have patience. Take your check down, take your check down, you got a receiver, take your check down, run. We talked before the game that he was going to have to use his legs."
Head coach Dick Jauron's answer to Edwards' struggles were a little less-straight forward.
"There’s probably a lot of ways you could go with it, but I think clearly, statistically, you’d say that he’s not playing as well the last four games than he was earlier in the year, so I don’t know if there is any more to be said than that, though, I know that he’s four weeks more experienced, I know that he’s four weeks smarter because I see him study. He’s studying all of the time. So regression in that area, I would say no, I would say he’s gone forward. So you see what I’m saying? You can take it either way. The bottom line is we’re just not playing well enough to win and he’s one of the guys. He’s one of those guys out there so he’s part of it. So whatever all of that means, there it is. I don’t see him in a slide backwards, if that’s what you mean. But clearly, performance-wise, it hasn’t been there."
Buffalo plays Kansas City this week.
Email: nick@wgr550.com
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