Edwards kicking himself after dropped passes

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This article was published 25/07/2011 (5220 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Not everyone was feeling good about the Blue Bombers win Saturday afternoon.

While teammates bounced around the locker-room in the afterglow of an impressive 33-24 win over the Toronto Argonauts at Rogers Centre, veteran receiver Terrence Edwards stood outside the door, struggling with a self-evaluation of his own play.

“If we would have lost this game I don’t know what it would have been like for me (afterwards),” Edwards said. “But we won, guys made enough plays to win. I appreciate having 11 other guys making plays, but I have to play better.”

Edwards was visibly upset after the game, searching for the words after his two catch, 93-yard day — the bulk of those yards coming on a 63-yard touchdown catch-and-run in the third quarter. His attention wasn’t on that highlight reel moment, though, it was on the ones he didn’t bring down.

There was the one when the ball that glanced off his open hands into the air, only to be rescued by the waiting hands of Cory Watson.

There was the one in the second quarter. He had a step on the Toronto defender in the back of the end zone as the ball arrived, and although the Argos player closed well on the play (making it a tough catch), Edwards, who had no catches in the first half, felt he should have hauled it in.

His growing frustration bubbled to the surface after that play, too. He threw his helmet as he walked to the bench and paced over to the far end of the bench area, simmering alone for a few minutes.

Then there was the one late in the fourth quarter deep in Argos territory that he dropped. That would have been a touchdown.

“At one point, I talked to him and I said ‘How many catches did you have at Georgia?’ He said, ‘A lot,’ ” head coach Paul LaPolice said. ” ‘How many have you had in the CFL?’ ‘A lot.’ (I told him) to relax and just go catch the ball.”

Edwards caught 204 balls as a Bulldog and has 334 catches in Canada.

Add Saturday’s events to the rash of drops Edwards has had through the early part of the season, and you can see why the helmet was sent into the air at Rogers Centre.

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His care to the cause is admirable and the want to contribute doesn’t reek of any selfishness, but Edwards, who has nine catches this season for 225 yards, had to be reminded after the game that the Bombers are 3-1 and he’s still a big player in the Winnipeg attack (three TDs lead the club).

“That’s the part that I can take,” he said. “But still, you want to go out there as the leader of the team, you want to go out there and let the guys follow your lead making plays. (Saturday) I didn’t take advantage of my opportunities. I did have the one touchdown… I’m upset.

“The win… it helps a little bit. I’m a playmaker — I have to go out there and make plays. Right now, I’m not playing up to my standards.

“It’s a new experience… I don’t know what it is. It’s not lack of focus, it’s not lack of anything — it’s just… one of those things,” he added. “Like I said, we’re 3-1 but it’s bittersweet for me.”

adam.wazny@freepress.mb.ca