Derek Anderson Discusses Departed Browns WR Braylon Edwards

(On his reaction to the Braylon Edwards trade)- “Obviously this is a business and it’s the way things go. I appreciate everything Braylon did for me and this team. I wish him nothing but the best. I’m sure it’s the same for the guys here. We were here five years together, became good friends, he made a lot of plays for me. He was a guy that I trusted.”

(On if he is shocked by the trade)- “A little bit. I don’t think I’ve ever been on a team when we traded a guy in the middle of the year. Like I said, that’s the way it goes and we move on.”

(On what happened to Edwards after 2007)- “I don’t know. I can only wish him the best. I hope he gets things going again. He is a heck of a player. He has got a lot of football ahead of him.”

(On if he has talked to Edwards yet)- “Yes, I talked to him this morning.”

(On if Edwards expressed happiness about the trade)- “No, we both just wished each other the best. He wasn’t overly excited or anything. That was about it. I told him I appreciated everything that he’s done for me.”

(On what the trade does for the offense)- “The 11 guys that go on the field, we are going to ask them to be in the right spots, make the plays when they come to them, regardless of who it is and that’s how we are going to do it.”

(On losing everyone from the high octane offense from 2007)- “You’ve got me, Jamal (Lewis), Joe (Thomas) and you’ve got the linemen. There are times when you just move forward and get better. The 11 guys that are put out there, we have to find a way to get it done, execute the plays, no matter who those guys are.”

(On thanking Edwards for what he did for him)- “I think he’s made a lot of plays for me. He’s got me better, I think I’ve gotten him better. Regardless of whether he dropped a ball or whatever happened between us, nothing was ever personal between he and I. I have a great respect for him. He is a friend. You guys look at it like people are battling. We have been here five years together, you build relationships, we like one another, we enjoy each other. You don’t just come here and work with guys just for fun.”

(On if the trade makes the team better)- “Obviously they made the decision and we roll with it. Like I said, if it’s Brian (Robiskie), Josh (Cribbs), whoever is out there on the field, we just have to make plays and continue to do the things we did last week and going forward.”

(On how different the offense is and if there should be an expectation that it is going to take time to get better)- “Yes and no. Things are different, but we have had time to understand what they expect from us. What Eric (Mangini) expects from us. What Brian (Daboll) expects from us. Yes, we are learning and I feel like we’ve been getting better and guys are understanding things different with the different things every day. Some of these guys weren’t even here when we were in that offense so it doesn’t matter. We’ve got young guys, Brian and Mo (Mohamed Massaquoi) are young, they haven’t seen a lot, they haven’t played a lot, but they are going to do good things for us. Josh is going to do good things for us. It’s just football plays. It’s not about how it’s called, obviously the timing of the call is huge, but we still have to run them, still have to throw it, still have to catch it and we have to block. It takes the execution of the play. Like Eric always says, if we are all wrong and doing it all wrong, that’s fine. We can’t have one guy doing it wrong and then the whole thing is messed up.”

(On the progress of Brian Robiskie)- “I think it’s been good. With him being active or not active, it’s just a numbers thing. More than likely most of the time it comes down to special teams and guys that are on that. I think Brian continues to work. He cares about it, he understands the game. He will do fine in whatever we ask him to do.”

(On what message it sends by trading problem players in Kellen Winslow and Braylon Edwards)- “I wouldn’t say that they were always a problem. Everybody has issues in their life. I wouldn’t say they were in here raising heck day in and day out. Both of them are really good football players and will continue to do good things in their careers. As far as that end of it, you will have to ask Eric about that. I don’t make those decisions, obviously.”

(On how you don’t lose confidence in a receiver when he drops a pass)- “We do it every day. We throw and catch, we catch balls afterwards. When Braylon dropped a ball in the first quarter, I said, ‘Hey, that happens. I am just going to keep throwing it and you keep catching it.’ It’s part of the game. I don’t get too frustrated about it as long as I keep giving those guys opportunities, eventually they are going to continue make plays.”

(On if Edwards was frustrated that he didn’t catch a pass in the Cincinnati game)- “Sure he was frustrated. He’s competitor and he wants to win. It wasn’t that we weren’t trying to get him the ball. A couple of them we just didn’t connect on, but I am sure he was upset. I think he was more or less mad that we hadn’t won.”

(On if Edwards was upset that he didn’t win the starting quarterback job out of camp)- “I don’t know. I didn’t really speak with him about that.”

(On what the trade does to the offense now)- “Nothing. It’s not anything that we have control over. Like the said, the 10 other guys that are out there with me, I expect them to be in the right places, doing their job, catching the ball, making throws. It takes all of us. If it’s Robo (Brian Robiskie), if it’s Josh, they are going to make plays and we’re going to be fine.”

(On if he wants to start here next year)- “I am under contract through next season with the Browns and I am here to honor that contract.”

(On how long it takes to get a rhythm with a new wide receiver)- “We got a new guy? We will see. Whenever he gets here, I’ll just try to take him and work with him. Just getting a feel for a guy’s body language, how he runs routes. We didn’t have that time during training camp to work with the guy but we traded for him for a reason. I am sure he is a good football player and we will get going.”

(On how to translate the positives from last week to Buffalo)- “Continue to work. I thought last week, we had a great week’s worth of practice. Guy’s came out every day, it was positive, upbeat. We did the things they asked us to do and it showed in the game. We did a lot of good things, obviously overshadowed by losing, I think if guys come out this week and continue to work hard we are going to do good things.”

(On if players are walking on egg shells)- “I wouldn’t say so. I think Eric just makes it clear what he expects. That’s fine with me, and that should be fine with everybody else. He is not hiding anything. He expects you to do certain things and that’s the way it is.”