The Bills offense improved in a handful of areas last season, but not to the point where they could be consistently effective on a weekly basis. Edwards sees that changing with the addition of Terrell Owens.
"I think he instantly makes this team a lot better," said Edwards.
Where he can help the offense most is tough to pin down right now prior to even stepping on the field with the playmaking receiver, but the Bills quarterback is confident Owens' impact can be wide ranging.
"Once we actually get him in the system and get in practice with him, we'll know better as to where he's going to benefit our offense the most," Edwards said. "I'd like to say that he's probably going to do it in every facet of our offense.
"The other thing too is that we would probably get a lot of leadership out of him too. That's what the receivers need and what the offense needs and he's been playing this game for a long time and doing it every Sunday for over 10 years now. You gain a lot of respect sitting in the locker room and meeting room bringing that experience to the table every day."
Owens, a 14-year veteran, has nine 1,000-yard receiving seasons in the last 11 years and eight double digit touchdown seasons, including the last three campaigns. The attention he demands will open things up not just for Lee Evans, but virtually every aspect of the Buffalo offense.
"It'll be harder for defenses not only to disguise, but they've got to double someone and whoever they double, the other guy is always going to have single coverage," said Edwards of Owens and Evans. "It's going to create a lot of mismatches. If we can protect and set up the run game and get those guys open we can get some mismatches that we can take a big advantage of."
One example would be the trickle down effect as defenses have to make sacrifices in underneath coverage.
"If they play coverage outside we're going to get linebackers trying to cover Josh (Reed) and Roscoe (Parrish) and that's what we want for the offense," said Edwards.
Buffalo's signal caller points to the Arizona attack when referencing the potential problems Buffalo's receiving corps can create with Owens now in that group.
"That's why Arizona was so effective," he said. "They have two great receivers that you have to be concerned with the entire game. Once one gets open and they throw him the ball and the defense tries to take him away and then you throw to the other guy and he's going to be open too. It's kind of a cat and mouse game and it's tough for a defense to have to prepare for two receivers and not just one, it's going to create a lot of headaches for defensive coordinators."
Edwards spent part of Monday with offensive coordinator Turk Schonert and quarterbacks coach Alex Van Pelt drawing up plays in the scheme on the board with the full complement of receivers now at their disposal including Owens. Edwards admitted it was hard not to get excited about the possibilities.
"I get anxious just talking about it," said Edwards. "I'm taking this week to meet with the coaches and get a head start on things and we're tweaking the offense a little bit. I was upstairs meeting with Turk and going over personnel groupings and putting numbers on the board and I was just getting excited going through the plays and drawing them up."
And despite what the skeptics say about Owens on field demeanor, Edwards believes all Owens craves is helping his team win.
"I respect football players that have such a passion and desire to win football games," said Edwards. "The two guys I respect in this game more than anyone else is Brett Favre and John Elway. Both those guys wanted to win more than anyone else and I see a lot of that in Terrell and that's what we need on this team."
And in his first phone conversation with Owens, Edwards relayed to the playmaking wideout that he has that same passion to be successful.
"It all stems from him wanting to win," said Edwards. "If you keep that in mind and that's something I've kept in mind here and I told him I don't want to be sitting home in January. I don't want to sit home in February. I want to play football. I want to be out there in the playoffs and want to take this team to that level. Our ultimate goal is to get to that level where we're playing in January and I think he's going to be a big part of that."
