BUFFALO – Bill Walsh's quarterback legacy is alive and well. It just happens to be living in Buffalo, not San Francisco.
The Bills' Trent Edwards is perhaps the last NFL quarterback to have benefited from Walsh's personal touch.
Edwards said he and the late 49ers coach occasionally chatted on the Stanford campus when Edwards was the quarterback there. Walsh also sang Edwards' praises to the Bills' personnel department, particularly friend Marv Levy, the team's general manager at the time, before the 2007 draft. Buffalo chose Edwards in the third round that April.
During a Wednesday conference call, Edwards recalled that Walsh sometimes spoke to the Cardinal players before games and that the speeches were a rare bright spot amid some recent dismal seasons at Stanford.
"He would address the team, and he would do a much better job than any of our coaches would do at the time in terms of motivating us and getting us ready to play," Edwards said. "And that's the type of person he was. He still had it. I don't know what age he was, but he was still coming in and still had everything upstairs."
The lessons Walsh provided Edwards in one-on-one meetings were the same ones he ingrained in every quarterback who played for Walsh in his famed West Coast system.
"The things that really stuck out with me (were) just his description of the offense that he ran and the timing of the quarterback's footwork and with his receiver," Edwards said. "The thing that he really stressed a lot was getting the ball to the running backs, talking about (tight end) Brent Jones and Roger Craig and those guys … how Steve Young and Joe Montana would do that a lot to get back in rhythm."
The Bills don't run a West Coast offense, but Edwards has put Walsh's advice to good use this season.
Tailback Marshawn Lynch has the same number of receptions (42) as the team's top wide receiver, Lee Evans.
Tight end Robert Royal is fourth on the team with 29 catches; another running back, Fred Jackson, is fifth with 25. Royal, however, is not expected to play today.
With forecasts calling for snow and temperatures just above freezing, Lynch, a former Cal star, figures to be Buffalo's focus both on the ground and in the passing game.
In fact, Edwards said Lynch's soft hands and ever-pumping knees were reminiscent of one of Walsh's former pupils, Craig, who last week became a semifinalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
"I would say (Lynch) is a perfect fit," Edwards said. "I would say he's very similar to a Roger Craig-style, receiver-running back that has great hands, runs great routes, creates a lot of mismatches, breaks a lot of tackles."
Read Matthew Barrows' 49ers blog at www.sacbee.com/ninersblog.
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