Terrence McGee had hoped he'd be back by now. Instead, arthroscopic surgery to repair a torn

meniscus in his left knee has forced him to miss the last three games.

But the Bills' top cornerback could make his return against the Jets.

McGee was limited in practice Monday and Tuesday, but he's hopeful that he will be cleared

to play Thursday.

"The coaches and trainers, it's their decision whether they want to put me out there or

not," said McGee, who had surgery during the bye week. "It's not something you want to rush.

You want to be as close to 100 percent as possible. But it felt pretty good out there today.

It's been a slow process and it has tested my patience, but it's definitely coming."

Coach Perry Fewell indicated McGee is day to day and his status could be a game-time

decision.

"It's a comfort level for him," Fewell said. "We're just going to evaluate."

McGee's return would be welcomed. With McGee and Ashton Youboty (high ankle sprain) out

with injuries, the Bills have been forced to use safety Donte Whitner as their nickel

cornerback.

Youboty will likely miss another week as he has not practiced the last two days. It also

appears the Jonathan Scott will make his second straight start at left tackle as Demetrius

Bell is still out with a knee injury. Defensive tackle John McCargo didn't practice because of

an ailing calf.

Safety Todd Johnson was not at practice due to personal reasons. Safety Jairus Byrd (groin)

was limited but is expected to play.

. . . Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez (knee) and left tackle

D'Brickashaw Ferguson (hamstring) practiced fully Tuesday after being limited Monday.

The Jets will be short on cornerbacks Thursday with Dwight Lowery (ankle) and Donald

Strickland (concussion) unable to practice this week. They are the team's third- and fourth-

best corners.xleg

. . . Because Sanchez was struggling so much, the Jets introduced

a color-coded play-calling system for their rookie quarterback last week.

The move was at the behest of coach Rex Ryan, who wanted to simplify things for Sanchez,

who had 16 interceptions through the first 10 games.

"Simplifying things in the fact that I wanted him to know what we needed out of him, game

specifics," Ryan said Tuesday. "You can be aggressive if you have a clear lane to throw to and

you can see your receiver is open. Or you're going to check it down and run with it. Maybe

that was a certain code. Another code was maybe you let it rip, though the last time we played

Buffalo I think he let it rip probably a little too much."

Sanchez threw five interceptions against the Bills in the earlier meeting, including one in

overtime that helped set up the Bills' game-winning field goal. But Sanchez had one of his

better games last Sunday when he completed 13 of 17 passes for 154 yards against Carolina. He

threw one interception but otherwise kept mistakes to a minimum in a 17-6 win.

"We expect to get our hands on some balls if we play our proper technique," Bills safety

George Wilson said. "But to say we're going to get five interceptions off Sanchez again, it's

possible but not realistic because I don't think coach Ryan is going to put him in a situation

where he feels like he has to win the game by himself. They've taken the load off of him,

trying to put him in a position to just manage the game and be able to keep them in a position

to win the game rather than playing aggressively and taking risks and costing them the game. I

expect him to have learned a lot from the last time we played against him and just put him in

position to make plays."

. . . The Bills signed rookie DT Rashaad Duncan to the practice

squad. Duncan spent time on the practice squads of Tampa Bay and Carolina this season. The

6-2, 315-pounder was signed by the Buccaneers as an undrafted free agent out of Pittsburgh.