There could be a quarterback change for the Bills for their Week 16 matchup against the Falcons in Atlanta, and it won't be due to performance. Both Trent Edwards and Ryan Fitzpatrick suffered ankle injuries in Sunday's loss to New England. Their status is day-to-day, as the coaching staff waits to see how the two signal callers recover between now and the middle of the week.
"It's really too early to answer that," said Fewell as to who might start Sunday. "We have until Wednesday or Thursday so we'll wait and see."
Neither quarterback was available for comment regarding their injuries on Monday. How each of them come through the week will be the focus now, but it certainly won't make game planning any easier for the coaching staff.
Edwards was inserted into Sunday's game in the fourth quarter when he replaced an ineffective Fitzpatrick.
"We were not converting on the third downs," said Fewell following the loss to New England. "We needed something to give us some momentum so I made the decision. I thought Trent could come in and maybe give us a little spark, give us some momentum."
That didn't happen however, as Edwards was sacked on his first play from scrimmage, though it was negated by penalty. He completed one of two passes for minus-one yard before being sacked on a 3rd-and-11, which was when he sustained the ankle injury and was unable to return.
Fitzpatrick was re-inserted and on his first series back in the game he too suffered an ankle injury. It happened on a 1st-and-10 play at the New England 43-yard line with just over seven minutes remaining in the game. He was sacked by New England's Tully Banta-Cain and the linebacker came down hard on the quarterback's lower leg and foot. Fitzpatrick popped right up after the play, but was hobbling for a few plays after sustaining the injury.
The Bills signal caller finished the drive, which stalled at the Patriots 11 and then came back in the game for one more series throwing a touchdown pass to Lee Evans to pull Buffalo to within a score (17-10).
If both Fitzpatrick and Edwards are unable to practice Wednesday it will likely force the Bills to turn to third string quarterback Brian Brohm, signed just a month ago off of Green Bay's practice squad. But Fewell is willing to wait and see.
"We'll determine that on Wednesday," said Fewell. "We'll have to see where these other guys are. We'll obviously have a plan and look at them on Tuesday and see how they're feeling and look at them Wednesday and see how they're feeling and go from there."
Brohm has not taken any reps with the offense during any of the game weeks that he has been on the roster. He's been relegated to handling scout team reps during the practice week. Still he believes he could perform if given all the practices reps with the starters leading up to a game.
"Obviously if theymade that decision I'd get those reps that week before I went into the game," said Brohm last week. "And I'd feel more comfortable if I got those. "For now I'm just working hard to get better. Anybody that plays in this league wants to be on the field and I'm no different. I'll be ready if called upon."
