After Sunday's game, Dick Jauron said that any and all personnel decisions would be made by Wednesday. But it only took until Monday afternoon for Buffalo's head coach to make a decision at the most important offensive position.
"In terms of our quarterbacks, we'll make the switch and Trent will be our starter," said Jauron. "We fully understand that it's not only J.P.. That's not the only reason we've lost these couple of games in a row, but it is the focal point of the offense and we do need a lot of consistency from that position."
Naturally Edwards was excited to get the opportunity to get back on the field after what will be a five week layoff due mainly to injury.
"It's going to take a little bit to get back into it, but I'm anxious to get back out there and help this team win," Edwards said. "I'm feeling healthy, my wrist feels better now and I just need to kind of get on the same page with all the guys on offense and move the football here on Sunday."
Point production has been a monumental problem for Buffalo's offense all season. Not counting the four return touchdowns by the defense and special teams this season, the Bills offense averaging 12.6 points per game. Jauron is hoping that his offense can get a spark by inserting Edwards back into the lineup.
"We need production," said Jauron. "We need to stay on the field and score. And we're going to make the change in the hopes that we can get started again and play a real good game this Sunday against the Redskins."
Edwards feels he learned almost as much on the sidelines the past month as he did in his first experiences on the field earlier this season. Ultimately he's hoping he can jumpstart an offense that has been in neutral almost all season.
"I hope I can use the experience I had at the start of the season and hopefully take that and run with it here in the last five games," he said. "It's something I spent a lot of time thinking about and kind of going over in my mind what I learned and a lot of things I learned from sitting on the sideline too. Hopefully all that can come together for me and help provide that spark."
Jauron did not indicate that the switch to Edwards was permanent, but is hoping that the rookie will play well enough to prevent any further changes down the line.
"Most of the time changes have happened due to injury, but when we make a change we hope that it's not going to go week to week," said Jauron. "We hope it just goes and takes care of itself because that means we're playing well and winning."
Losman fallout
Saying he felt like he was on a short leash last week the news did not come as a surprise to J.P. Losman.
"You could see it coming," Losman said. "I knew it was going to be getting close down to it if you're not going to win games. I knew it was going to get close so it wasn't a complete shocker considering we didn't get a win last week."
Jauron said if Losman had successfully orchestrated a comeback in the fourth quarter to win that game at Jacksonville he'd still be starting as Buffalo's head coach referred to his stance that if you perform you will play.
But some players in Buffalo's locker room feel that making the quarterback job subject to a week-to-week review can negatively affect performance.
"I can understand it, but it's a tough situation to put him in though," said Lee Evans. "When you play game to game with that type of chip on your shoulder it's tough. It puts unnecessary pressure on you. It can make you a little hesitant about things. It makes you less likely to take chances because when things go wrong (there are) bad consequences. I don't know if it did with him, but generally speaking it can."
Jauron maintains that he has not given up on Losman despite pulling him from the starting lineup.
"Oh no, I still think he's a quarterback that obviously can play in this league," said Jauron. "But right now we need to move and give Trent a chance to see if he can sustain more, and maybe give us an opportunity to score more. It's a change. I still like our two young quarterbacks, we've just got to be more consistent."
Having been through quarterback changes a few times before in his young career, Losman looked numb to the latest lineup decision. Still he remains hopeful that another opportunity will present itself.
"I don't know if there is one right word to define what exactly the emotions are or what this whole thing is about," said Losman. "There are a lot of factors involved. It's a tricky situation, it's an awkward situation, but you just learn how to roll with the punches and realize that you could be back in there in one play."
