Losman sprained his MCL during the first drive of the Bills loss to
the Patriots, the latest in a long rash of injuries to the team.
Losman is expected to miss two weeks, so the team will turn to
Edwards to lead an offense that has failed to get on track all season
long.
Despite less than impressive numbers at Stanford, the Bills thought
highly enough of his long-term potential to draft Edwards on the first
day. They obviously felt that his numbers didn't tell the whole story.
"The fact that Edwards was stuck on a terrible team and was plagued
with injuries throughout his career makes him a difficult prospect to
evaluate," the NFLdraftbible.com said when evaluating Edwards in
April. "No other quarterback has such a wide disparity in terms of
physical ability and potential compared to actual productivity on the
field during their college career."
Edwards' career at Stanford may not do an accurate job of indicating
his professional potential. At 6'4, 235 pounds with a rocket arm, he certainly has the tools to succeed at the pro level. The
Bills staff has sung his praises from Day One, but it's doubtful that
they hoped to see him thrown into the fire this early on.
Regardless, Edwards limited body of work presents the Jets with an
interesting dilemma.
"You don't know what to expect," Jon Vilma said of preparing for
Edwards. "You can only go off of what he did in the preseason and what
he did against New England and try and take it from there. He is
going to have different characteristics, different strengths and
weaknesses (than Losman)."
Edwards lead the Bills to a scoring drive on his first possession
against the Patriots, but struggled with his reads from that point
forward.
The Bills seems convinced that Edwards has a bright future in
Buffalo, but at this point in his career, the question marks
surrounding the rookie quarterback are more mental than physical; and
Eric Mangini's complex defense should prove to be a tough test for Edwards on
Sunday.