Bills starting quarterback Trent Edwards was firing passes and running plays in practice Monday as if nothing had changed since suffering a concussion eight days ago at Arizona. Though he missed both of the team's bye week practices to recover from the hit, Edwards looked sharp and has been cleared to practice fully.
"I went full go today," said Edwards after Monday's practice. "We had a no huddle period at the start of practice that J.P. (Losman) took, but beyond that I was full go with a normal amount of reps."
Edwards practiced with the starting unit for the remainder of practice and by all accounts fared well.
"It was good just to see him back smiling and feeling good and then to come out there and make some plays," said Lee Evans. "It was good. It's good to get him back out there and knock off some of the rust and get him back into the swing of things."
During the individual position portion of practice Edwards did not have an incompletion. For his first practice back the Bills starting signal caller felt sharp.
"I think it was just because I tried to slow myself down," said Edwards. "We had some new calls out there today, but I just tried to tell myself before practice to take one play at a time, just try to go through your reads and if you throw a bad ball forget about it because I haven't practiced in a week. But I thought I did a good job of not getting overly excited and getting out of my rhythm. I just felt comfortable out there."
Edwards is scheduled to undergo another baseline test Tuesday to make sure that the results are in line with those that were taken prior to the beginning of the season. The quarterback confirmed that he did experience headaches following the concussion, but that they had subsided by last weekend.
After being examined by team doctors and trainers this morning he was given the green light.
"I had met with the trainers and doctors on Friday and pretty much rested all weekend at my house and didn't really do all that much," Edwards said. "I came in here today and met with them this morning and they said, 'We're going to give it a go today. There's no reason to really hold you back.'"
Edwards admitted that he does not remember much after the hit and that for a brief time did not have his bearings.
"I remember calling the play and throwing the ball to James (Hardy) and beyond that not all too much," said Edwards. "I remember sitting in the training room with my pads off and my shoes off and the trainers were around me. I don't remember how I got to the training room. I don't remember really who hit me. There was probably a 10-15 minute grace period where I was kind of out of it and didn't really know where I was, but it slowly came back to me when I was in the training room."
Fortunately for Edwards this is his first career concussion.
"This is definitely the first one I've had that's been classified as a concussion," he said. "I've been nicked and dinged just like every other football player has, but nothing to this extent. Just the fact that I don't recall a majority of what happened after the hit, and that's never really happened to me before. I've forgotten plays after a ding or a light knock, but there was a brief period there where I was kind of out of it and that's the first time that's happened."
As far as Edwards is concerned he'll be ready to start on Sunday, but knows there are some hurdles left to clear.
"We have some tests to run (Tuesday)," he said. "If those come back the way I think they're going to come back we should be good to go on Sunday"
