Since he can remember Marquise Goodwin was the one everyone was trying to catch. Now the Bills rookie wide receiver, who hasn't played since Week 1 with a broken hand is the one playing catch up. Just about fully healed the speed receiver and return man is catching passes again, the final hurdle to get back on the game field.
"It felt alright," Goodwin told Buffalobills.com. "I'm just trying to get back into the motion of catching it. I'm just trying to get my hand used to the impact of the ball. For the most part it went pretty well catching last week. I'm just looking forward to building off of it and getting better each day."
Goodwin has been targeting the Cincinnati game in the hopes of being cleared to play against the Bengals after missing the last four games. At the same time he knows he and the team's medical staff have to take a cautious approach.
"It's kind of a difficult situation," he said. "You want to hurry up and get out there, but you don't want to put the team in a bind. If you get out there and you're not at your best and something happens and then I'm out for the rest of the year. I'm just going to continue to work on getting treatment every day, rehabbing and just getting my hand strengthened back up and getting used to the contact of the ball. I'll see how everything goes this week. Hopefully I'll be back out there for the Cincinnati game."
The athletic training staff has given the receiver "hand gadgets" as Goodwin calls them to build strength back into the muscles of his hand.
"I'm just working on strengthening it, opening and closing it," he said. "I'm also doing bone stimulation and icing it to keep the swelling out of it. I'm trying to get this thing better."
Being able to clamp down on an incoming pass, hold onto the ball when defenders are swiping at it and being able to escape a jam at the line all require strong hands. That's why Goodwin knows his hand has to be 100 percent or he won't be an effective wideout.
"You have to do a lot of things with your hands," he said. "You don't realize how much you use your hands as a receiver until something like this happens. You have to make the most of the situation and you've just got to build from it and just get healthy."
Goodwin is expected to practice this week. Whether he's a full participant will be known later today.
"It's just a matter of when will it be ready to get out there and go," he said.
