QUARTERBACK TRENT EDWARDS
Thursday, May 22, 2008
On how much the terminology has changed
I wouldn't say it's a terminology adjustment. It's just a different way of coaching the position. That's the major point. Turk [Schonert] was the position coach last year for us and now he has a bigger role in our development at the quarterback position. So he's going to say a little bit more and we're connecting with him a little bit more often than we were last year. So it's getting adjusted to his coaching style. I would say a majority of the terminology is pretty much the same. There are different routes and different words for those new routes, but in terms of just coaching style it's just a little bit different.
On if the huddle calls are similar
A lot of our formations and a lot of our routes, a lot of our run calls are pretty much the same and that's going to help the young guys out a lot. Me and Marshawn [Lynch] were in the system last year and it's benefited us in the first couple of OTAs so far.
On if there are more movements in the offense
We have a lot of shifts and motions, but we did some of that last year too. It just depends on the play and depends on the package and depends on the style of offense we want to run and we're working on that right now. There's no telling whether or not we'll do that this year or not. But the fact that we have the ability to do that and we know where we're going with those formations and shifts it's going to provide a lot of different looks for the defense.
On how much more prepared he feels
I feel a lot more prepared. Last year at this time I was getting reps with the third team guys. I wasn't really knowing where I was going with the ball and I didn't know the basic formations and the basic routes. I probably didn't know anyone's name in the huddle for that matter. Having been around these guys for a year and in the system for a year you know people's names and know where you're going with the football, and now you feel a lot more comfortable and you can focus more on smaller specific things like your techniques rather than just trying to get the actual play down.
On if there is any experimenting going on with the offense
That's what I've liked so far about Turk. We're looking at a play with a certain progression and we get a certain coverage, he says, 'Why don't we read this route first before we go to the primary that was there before we called this play?' Just the progression changes based on a certain look is just the way Turk likes to coach the position and I like seeing that.
On if any of his mechanics have changed
"If you notice, my initial set up is a little bit flatter. I'm not as staggered with my stance. I feel a little bit more comfortable with that. Turk likes a little bit of a stagger. There are little things like that. I'm just trying to be a little calmer and slower with some footwork rather than last year kind of running through the footwork."
On what WR James Hardy brings to the offense
He adds a lot. We're calling plays where there were some plays we couldn't call last year just based on certain looks we were getting and not having the ability to do things. A lot of that is due to his ability. The thing is if you watched the past few practices James [Hardy] is doing a great job. But if you look at Roscoe [Parrish] and Josh [Reed] they've made big strides in this offense and that's only helping us out and taking a lot of pressure off Marshawn and the offensive line if Roscoe and Josh can get separation for us.
On Hardy's height being a asset
It does. The other thing it allows is if you keep running the deep route and throwing it up they're going to give softer and softer coverage. So those underneath routes are going to open up. A lot of people have alluded to this too that it's going to open up Lee [Evans] a lot too. We're not going to have as much double coverage on Lee and so we're going to shift and motion those guys out and get Lee in some one-on-one match-ups and get Marshawn in some one-on-one match-ups and if we can continue to do that because James Hardy provides such a threat that's what we're looking for.
On using Hardy's height in the red zone
Very much so, we haven't practiced that so far, but we've talked about it and looked over some things and talked about some things in the meetings about how we're going to utilize his height and again that's going to open up Josh and Lee in the red zone too.
On if the audibles have been expanded
We have and we'll see a lot more when we get more looks from the defense. Right now they're only doing some pretty basic coverage's so far. We're seeing more as the week went on, but not where we need to audible though. They're in the offense, and hopefully we can make that adjustment next week.
