File Under: Buffalo Bills, Dick Jauron, Trent Edwards, Turk Schonert
07/18 — There is optimism in Bills country, as there should be. The defense has gotten a transfusion with the free agency arrivals of DT Marcus Stroud and LB Kawika Mitchell, the return of LB Paul Posluszny from his broken arm, and the first-round drafting of CB Leodis McKelvin.
The offense has added 6'6" second-round WR James Hardy to the mix that already features second-year RB Marshawn Lynch and second-year QB Trent Edwards, who got his first pro start in Game 4 against the Jets last season. As the headline at nfl.com declares: "Edwards Era Officially Under Way at Bills Camp."
And head coach Dick Jauron told buffalobills.com that he thought the off-season went "exceptionally well." "I certainly feel good about it and I know [the players] do," Jauron said. "We got a lot of work done."
But of course work remains to be done for all teams at this time of year. For instance, Buffalo was one of two teams last season (Detroit was the other) to finish with a ranking of 30th or lower in four of eight main NFL category rankings. The Bills checked in at 30th in total and passing yards and points scored and 31st in total defensive yards allowed.
And one minor but important category the Bills offense will want to hike up is in touchdown drive percentage — the percentage of drives that result in six points. Unofficially, the Bills were last in the NFL in this category. Here are the bottom five:
| Team | Drives | TDs | Pct. |
| Buffalo | 177 | 20 | 11.30 |
| San Francisco | 203 | 23 | 11.33 |
| Kansas City | 194 | 23 | 11.9 |
| Jets | 171 | 21 | 12.3 |
| St. Louis | 193 | 24 | 12.4 |
Individually, Edwards' 9.9 percent TD drive percentage in his 10 games (nine starts) was below J.P. Losman's 13.6 percent in his eight games (seven starts) and in fact was the third-lowest among qualifying QBs in the NFL.
Conversely, Edwards' ball protection was strong — his 10.8 percent turnover drive rate was the sixth-best among NFL QBs with at least 50 drives.
And the young signalcaller has been hard at work with his new coordinator, Turk Schonert, a fellow Stanford alum who in fact led the nation's I-A quarterbacks in passing efficiency in 1979. Under Schonert, it is expected the Bills offense will move at a faster tempo. A rapid rise up the rankings as well would be no surprise.
Two of these AFC East Radar entries remain next week before the Jets' full squad begins practicing July 24. This is the schedule:
Week of July 1 — Miami Down, New England Up
Week of July 7 — Buffalo Up, Jets Down
Week of July 14 — Miami Up, Buffalo Down
Week of July 21 — New England Down, Jets Up
Skibba Said:
Mon, July 21, 2008 - 3:07pm EDT"Taylor and Thomas are now both out of Miami, great news and my condoloences to the fish. Fergie on the D line is still a force to be reckoned with though and parcells is always has a trick up his sleeve. Will never forget the game when he was with NE and the long snapper named Willy Carey busted out of the scrum and caught a deep pass on a fake punt. He took it in deep, all the way in for 6 ! "
uncle joe Said:
Mon, July 21, 2008 - 3:21pm EDT"Shockey went to the Saints for a 2009 second round pick.Isnt that ours if Vilma reaches certain incentives??????????????Help me out with this Randy,PLEASE!"
Dunnie Said:
Mon, July 21, 2008 - 4:32pm EDT"The Saints just acquired Shockey ... looks like they are trying to make a move too."
Larry Said:
Fri, July 18, 2008 - 10:24am EDT"As a season ticket holder for 24 years now, I'd like to say that one of the more enjoyable parts of the "in stadium" experience was the videos of the F-16 zeroing in on the opposing teams mascot (buffalo, dolphin, bronco, etc.,) and obliterating it. Accompanied by the music from Jaws, Fans loved it, crowds cheered etc. Can you try to take the lead in returning it to the in stadium venue? Thanks."