NFL preseason is relatively unimportant. No one wins the Super Bowl in four or five games before the season even begins, but people do lose jobs, positions and money -- and I'm not just talking about the suckers forced to pay for two extra "games" with their season tickets (Hey, I was sucker No. 1 for a while).

So when you try and make judgments based on someone's awful performance, it would have to be truly awful to be worth writing about, and I promise to write nothing if Trent Edwards had equal company amongst NFL starters in his massive struggles this preseason#.

#Here's where half the super optimists among Bills fans will be preparing their, "The Lions went 4-0 last preseason" comments.

POSITIVE NOTES ON TRENT:

- He is eighth in completion percentage.

- He's played more preseason games than any other starter.

OTHER NOTES ON TRENT

- Of the quarterbacks who have played three games, only Shaun Hill and Eli Manning have thrown for less yards than Edwards, who has played in four.

- Besides Edwards, the following starters who have played in three games have not thrown for a touchdown -- Jason Campbell, Shaun Hill, Jake Delhomme, Kurt Warner. Of the starters who have played in just two games, two have thrown for a touchdown -- Brett Favre and Matt Cassel.

- Only Denver's Kyle Orton has tossed more pics and only Matthew Stafford has thrown for as many interceptions as Edwards, who has played one more game than the Detroit rookie. That may sound unfair, but Stafford has thrown eight more passes.

- In addition to Edwards, only Matt Cassel, Eli Manning, Shaun Hill and Kyle Boller do not have a 100-yard "game" on their resume.

THE RAW NUMBERS (the final figure is the relatively inane number of 100-yard passing games):

Arizona - Kurt Warner - 3 GP, 56.4%, 272 yards, 0 TD, 2 INT, 1

Atlanta - Matt Ryan - 3 GP, 74.3%, 254 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT, 1

Baltimore - Joe Flacco - 3GP, 65.6%, 470 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT, 3

Buffalo - Trent Edwards - 4 GP, 68.4%, 189 yards, 0 TD, 3 INT, 0

Carolina - Jake Delhomme - 3GP, 65.6%, 265 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT, 1

Chicago - Jay Cutler - 3 GP, 63.6%, 329 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT, 2

Cincinnati - Carson Palmer - 1GP, 63.6%, 133 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT, 1

Cleveland - Brady Quinn - 3 GP, 67.7%, 225 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, 1

Dallas - Tony Romo - 3 GP, 70.2%, 353 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, 2

Denver - Kyle Orton - 3 GP, 67.2%, 367 yards, 1 TD, 4 INT, 1

Detroit - Matthew Stafford - 3 GP, 54.3%, 308 yards, 1 TD, 3 INT, 2

Green Bay - Aaron Rodgers - 3 GP, 71.1%, 458 yards, 6 TD, 0 INT, 2

Houston - Matt Schaub - 3 GP, 75.7%, 275 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, 1

Indianapolis - Peyton Manning - 3 GP, 74.2%, 296 yards, 3 TD, 0 INT, 2

Jacksonville - David Garrard - 3 GP, 59.5%, 331 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, 1

Kansas City - Matt Cassel - 2 GP, 57.9%, 114 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT, 0

Miami - Chad Pennington - 3 GP, 61.8%, 271 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT, 1

Minnesota - Brett Favre - 2 GP, 63.6%, 146 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT, 1

New England - Tom Brady - 3 GP, 61.9%, 307 yards, 4 TD, 1 INT, 2

New Orleans - Drew Brees - 3 GP, 72.5%, 354 yards, 4 TD, 0 INT, 2

NY Giants - Eli Manning - 3 GP, 52.9%, 184 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, 0

NY Jets - Mark Sanchez - 3 GP, 59.4%, 280 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT, 1

Oakland - Jamarcus Russell - 3 GP, 65.8%, 279 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT, 1

Philadephia - Donovan McNabb - 3 GP, 60.7%, 424 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT, 2

Pittsburgh - Ben Roethlisberger - 2 GP, 76%, 201 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT, 1

San Diego - Philip Rivers - 3 GP, 66.7%, 327 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT, 2

San Francisco - Shaun Hill - 3 GP, 53.8%, 140 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT, 0

Seattle - Matt Hasselbeck - 3 GP, 71.7%, 414 yards, 4 TD, 1 INT, 2

*St. Louis - Kyle Boller* - 3 GP, 57.8%, 212 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT, 0

Tampa Bay - Byron Leftwich - 3 GP, 48.8%, 224 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT, 1

Tennesee - Kerry Collins - 3 GP, 68.2%, 276 yards, 2 TD, 2 INT, 1

Washington - Jason Campbell - 3 GP, 48.6%, 257 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT, 1

*Boller is St. Louis' No. 2, but Marc Bulger has only throw four passes this preseason.

In summation, preseason is preseason but, save Shaun Hill, it's been rough. I guess our best hope is to go with the apologists and hope the Bills are purposely running a vanilla scheme until Terrell Owens is ready.

Email: nick@wgr550.com