SPEAKING UP-Young LB finding his voice

Ever since arriving in Buffalo, Tremaine Edmunds has walked the walk. Now he’s beginning to talk the talk.

- Mark Ludwiczak

Known for his reserved, quiet demeanor, Edmunds knew the Bills were in need of a boost heading into their Week 11 game against the Miami Dolphins. The previous week’s loss to the Cleveland Browns was a demoralizing one, and the Bills defense had been shredded against the run in recent weeks.

The second-year linebacker stood in front of his teammates that Saturday night and gave an impassioned, heartfelt speech. There was no way that Edmunds was going to let this opportunity for his team slip through the cracks.

It all led to Buffalo’s most dominant performance of the season in a 37-20 victory, and Edmunds’ best performance of the season.

“Very proud of him,” Bills head coach Sean McDermott said. “Middle of the second year ... and sometimes you forget that. But to see him take ownership and stand up and address his teammates, a very mature type of approach. “And then he backed it up with his play.”

Edmunds’ teammates were caught off guard by his speech. Which is what made it so meaningful.

“It’s great to see him really start to take ownership of it,” said veteran linebacker Lorenzo Alexander, one of Buffalo’s locker-room leaders. “Because I had nothing to do with what he did last week. For him to recognize that this was the moment to speak up just shows the leaps and bounds that he’s made from being a vocal leader standpoint for this team because it means a lot. Because when he speaks, guys kind of sit up a little bit because it means something, it carries some weight.”

“I think it really opened some eyes to a lot of guys on this team,” safety Micah Hyde said.

Edmunds prefers to keep the particulars of his speech behind closed doors. But there’s no doubt that it worked — given the ensuing performance — and represented the next step in his evolution as a player and leader for Buffalo.