"I'm just a hockey guy, so what do I know? I somehow sidestepped Bills' training camp, covered their first practice in the stadium, had virtually no interaction with the players, had no involvement with our NFL preview section and was on vacation last week for the season opener against Miami.

You're just a fan, so what do you know? You haven't attended every practice or been involved in team meetings. You're not privy to their blocking schemes or rationale behind play calling or what they say to the media in private. You haven't watched Trent Edwards or his backups behind the scenes.

I guess that makes us armchair quarterbacks who know little more than what we saw Sunday. Guilty as charged.

Buddy Nix isn't an armchair quarterback. He's an NFL executive. He's been involved in football in one capacity or another for more than 40 years. He was a respected NFL scout under the late John Butler in Buffalo and San Diego. He's not the smartest guy in the room [by his own admission], but he knows football players.

Chan Gailey knows football, too. It said so on his resume. He's been an NFL assistant coach on both sides of the ball. He's coached in Super Bowls. He was an offensive coordinator in Pittsburgh and Kansas City. He was the head coach in Dallas and had a nice run at Georgia Tech. He arrived with years of experience and a fresh set of eyes.

It's with that in mind that you wonder how such astute football minds have failed to comprehend what's painfully obvious to us armchair quarterbacks, that Trent Edwards remains overwhelmed and unsuited to run an NFL offense. He's in his fourth NFL season and looks just as frightened and bewildered in the pocket as he did in his first.

Lee Evans can mince words if he wants, but let's get straight to the point. Edwards should be replaced as the starting quarterback. The Bills aren't going anywhere with him or without him, and he's almost certain to be hitting the bricks after the season. His teammates appear to have little confidence in him, and he appears to inspire little in them.

You would think that Nix and Gailey would have concluded as much during the offseason while breaking down all that videotape and interviewing players, first assessing then addressing the most important position on the field. The only connection they had to Edwards was a stack of damning evidence against him."