Edwards, Lynch need an introduction to WNY winters
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MATT KRUEGER Sports Reporter
Things I think I'm thinking about: Buffalo Bills quarterback Trent Edwards and running back Marshawn Lynch should spend as much time as possible enjoying the Western New York winter throughout January and February as the team rests up from the 2007 season and turns its attention to 2008.

The Southern California Connection has proven to be as inept in the snow and cold of a Buffalo winter as Marv Levy would be on a surfboard. In the past two weeks, Edwards (Stanford) and Lynch (California) have hit a wall, as soon as wind and snow starts hitting them in the face. Edwards was nearly perfect in the first half against the Giants Sunday, completing eight of 15 passes for 143 yards and two touchdowns. But when the temperature dropped and the snow started flying in the second half, he was awful, completing one of 11 passes for 18 yards and three interceptions. The week before, he went 13-of-33 for 124 yards in the snow at Cleveland. Lynch rushed for a combined 152 yards the past two weeks, after running for 107 the previous week.

This isn't exactly a surprise. Neither player had even seen snow before coming to Buffalo. But this is life in Western New York. And to play in December, you better know how to adapt to less-than perfect conditions. If we can drive 65 mph down Union Road with windshield wipers that don't work, you can learn to throw, catch and run with a frozen football.

• Sports fans have every right to cheer and boo whomever they wish, but hearing Buffalo fans boo Daniel Briere and Eric Moulds this year was disheartening.

I understand Briere left Buffalo as a free agent and sought the more profitable confines of Philadelphia, but he is not to blame for that situation. The Sabres' front office had no intention of re-signing the center after his career year in 2006-07, so he looked elsewhere. Wouldn't you do the same thing?

Moulds was a stand-up leader for the Bills for 10 years, suffering through changes in head coaches and offensive coordinators. It took the bumbling Mike Mularkey to finally get Moulds to voice his displeasure with the offense, something fans had been screaming for years. Moulds, now with the Tennessee Titans, deserved better from the Buffalo fans during the preseason game in August.

• Seeing Kevin Everett back inside Ralph Wilson Stadium, even if it wasn't out on the field, was one of the highlights of my professional career.

As I wrote three months ago, Everett was the first Buffalo Bill I interviewed. I wish him all the best with his rehab and life after football.

• Watching the Sabres go back-and-forth with the Philadelphia Flyers in two of the better hockey games of the season this past weekend, makes me hope Buffalo can be as exciting with the other Pennsylvania team in the Winter Classic.

For once, let Western New York make the most out of the national spotlight and not become of the butt of a joke. If 70,000-plus fans are going to sit outside in December, at least make the action on the ice fast and furious.

• Let's hope the groin injury Jason Peters suffered Sunday won't be bad enough to keep him out of the Pro Bowl. He's earned his trip to Hawaii. e-mail: mkrueger@beenews.com