ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. – Bills quarterback Trent Edwards was back at work a week after being knocked out in Buffalo's Week 5 loss to Arizona and said he expects to play Sunday when the Bills (4-1) host San Diego (3-3).
“I'm getting better each day,” he said of the concussion. “It was a tough couple of days there after the hit. I had some headaches and residual effects from it, but slowly but surely they're going away.”
Edwards is scheduled for more tests Tuesday, but he's confident everything will be fine.
“If those (results) come back the way I think they're going to come back, we should be good to go on Sunday,” he said.
After consulting with team physicians Monday morning, he was cleared for a full practice.
Edwards was knocked cold on the third play from scrimmage when Cardinals strong safety Adrian Wilson drove him to the ground. Edwards missed both practices last week before the Bills began a four-day layoff, and said his headaches began to dissipate over the weekend.
Edwards didn't want to comment on the hit or the $25,000 fine the league levied against Wilson, but admitted he has no memory of the 10-15 minute span that immediately followed the play.
“I remember sitting in the trainers room with my pads off and my shoes off, but I don't remember how I got to the training room or who hit me,” he said. “I was kind of out of it, and didn't know where I was. Slowly I came back to it.”
Receiver/punt returner Roscoe Parrish practiced for the first time since surgery to repair ligament damage in his right thumb that forced him to miss the past two games. Starting free safety Ko Simpson also practiced. He missed the second half of the Cardinals game because of a hamstring injury.
Starting cornerback Terrence McGee and starting defensive end Aaron Schobel both missed Monday's practice. McGee sprained his left knee early against St. Louis in Week 4 and missed the Cardinals game, while Schobel is nursing a nagging left foot injury.
Lions
Quarterback Jon Kitna says he expects to play eventually this year, but doesn't know if he will this week against the Houston Texans.
Kitna told The Associated Press on Monday his back injury isn't that bad. Coach Rod Marinelli declined to answer questions about Kitna's health at his news conference.
Fourth-year pro Dan Orlovsky played in Sunday's 12-10 loss at Minnesota, snapping Kitna's starting streak at 36 games.
Drew Stanton, a second-round pick last year, was the winless Lions' No. 2 quarterback for the first time in his career against the Vikings.
The 36-year-old Kitna started against the Chicago Bears on Oct. 5, but left the game with back spasms.
Vikings
Minnesota agreed to terms with linebacker Dontarrious Thomas to bolster a banged-up unit.
Thomas played his first four seasons in Minnesota before leaving for bigger money with San Francisco. Thomas was waived in training camp and has been looking for work ever since.
He was the primary backup at all three positions last year in Minnesota, and the Vikings are going to need him to step back in quickly this year. Starting middle linebacker E.J. Henderson is out for the year with a foot injury. His backup, David Herron, was banged up in Sunday's win over Detroit and may not be able to play this week.
Redskins
Fed up with rookie Durant Brooks' inconsistency, executive vice president of football operations Vinny Cerrato said definitively on his radio show Monday that “somebody else will be punting” when the Redskins host the Cleveland Browns on Sunday.
Cerrato said the Redskins will audition punters Tuesday to replace sixth-round draft pick Brooks, who ranks last by far in the NFL in gross average (39.6) and net average (32.1). Brooks was booed repeatedly by the home fans in Sunday's 19-17 loss to St. Louis, especially after a 26-yard shank from his end zone that set up a Rams field goal in the third quarter.
Shortly afterward, coach Jim Zorn was put in the awkward position of contradicting his boss without sounding as if he were contradicting his boss. Yes, the coach said, there will be punters brought in for tryouts, but there's a chance Brooks will keep the job if those auditions don't go well.
“You can't say, 'We're going to replace him,' 'See ya later,' when we need to look at who we would replace him with as well – if we were going to replace him,” Zorn said. “Now,he may be the best guy out there, and then we have to work with him.”
Complicating matters, Zorn revealed that Brooks has a nagging hip flexor and quad strain in his kicking leg and was having an MRI on Monday. The injury hasn't prevented Brooks from punting well in practice, and Zorn stressed the injury has nothing to do with the decision to look elsewhere.
