After weeks of bad injury news and poor on-field performances, the Buffalo Bills received a boost Sunday when rookie quarterback E.J. Manuel returned to the practice field.
Manuel had been out of action since undergoing a procedure on his injured knee on August 17.
"He looked good," Head Coach Doug Marrone told reporters after the session at which Manuel conducted what was termed an "individual" workout. He reportedly did not practice with the team.
"If we can have him practicing on Wednesday and we feel that he’s good enough and mentally ready to play, then he’s going to play," Marrone said when asked if Manuel could start Sunday's regular season opener against the New England Patriots.
The development offers some encouragement to despairing fans who have fretted recently over the team's thin ranks of signal callers. A concussion brought veteran Kevin Kolb's season to an end. He was placed on the injured reserve list over the weekend. Two recently-acquired quarterbacks, Matt Leinart and Thaddeus Lewis, were waived over recent days, leaving the team with Manuel, and fellow rookie Jeff Tuel.
"We feel that we’re going to go in to it (the season) with the players we feel give us the best chance to win. I don’t have a problem if someone is a rookie, a veteran, whatever it may be."