Shortly after Sunday's game head coach Dick Jauron indicated he wanted to see the whole game on tape before deciding on his starting quarterback for his team's Week 11 game at Jacksonville. On Monday after reviewing the game his opinion of Trent Edwards' performance wasn't any different, but he's chosen to hold off on announcing a starter until Wednesday.
"He did some good things and then he did some things we'd like to have back," said Jauron.
When asked if there could be personnel changes Jauron left the door open.
"There's a possibility of changes, and we'll meet on that," he said. "We talked about those things (Monday) and we'll talk about those things more (Tuesday) and (Wednesday)."
The play at the quarterback position hasn't been dramatically different with Edwards or Ryan Fitzpatrick in the lineup. Edwards has a much better completion percentage than Fitzpatrick in the time both of them have been on the field, with Edwards connecting on just over 60 percent of his passes (60.2%). Fitzpatrick has hit on just under 50 percent (49.4%).
But both have thrown more interceptions than touchdowns so far this season and the offensive unit has not been significantly more effective in converting third downs with either quarterback, as the team ranks 29th in third down conversion percentage (27%) for the season.
Edwards ranks 24th among the league's starting quarterbacks with a passer rating of 74.1. That rating drops to a shade over 72 when it comes to fourth quarter passing as his completion percentage falls from just over 60 percent overall to 51.1 percent in the final quarter of play this season.
"I think if you look at any team in this league that has a few too many losses in their loss column than they would've wanted, if you look at their fourth quarter play they're not getting it done," said Edwards. "The teams that are winning football games, a lot of the reason they're winning is because of their performance in the fourth quarter. I can't honestly give you an answer on why that's happening, but for some reason it's not clicking right now."
Buffalo has been outscored in the fourth quarter this season by better than a 2:1 margin. The Bills have scored 40 points in the fourth quarter and their opponents have put up 101. Sunday's game against Tennessee was one of the more glaring examples of that problem as a relatively effective three quarters of play by the Bills was wiped out by a fourth quarter scoring differential of 24-0 in favor of the Titans.
"You look at the fourth quarter drives that we had and we turned the ball over. That's a major reason why we've lost a couple of games this season and it was a reason we lost the game (Sunday) probably," Edwards said. "(We're) just not converting on third and shorts and not staying on the field, putting our defense out there too long. We weren't really able to get anything going. The first three quarters we did some things right and then at the end we weren't able to do that."
Of Buffalo's last six possessions Sunday, five series went three-and-out with the sixth going four-and-out on a turnover on downs. Those six possessions gained a net total of 43 yards.
Though Jauron's decision to address the quarterback position on Wednesday might seem to indicate indecision, it could also be to keep Jacksonville guessing as to who they will be facing this week. Buffalo's head coach still maintained he has faith in Edwards' abilities.
"I think I still have confidence in him," said Jauron. "It hasn't gone the way any of us would like it to have gone to this point, certainly the team, our fans and our front office and ownership, but we'll just keep working and try to get this thing righted."
Edwards has not been told if he's starting, but intends to approach this game week like all the others.
"I'm going to continue to prepare like I am (starting)," he said. "There's no reason I shouldn't. It's not my decision. I'm not paid to make that decision. I'm still going to prepare and do everything I have the past 10 weeks of the season."
