Brian Brohm knows the circumstances are not ideal.

Yet he has been around the NFL long enough — almost two years — to know that you can't quibble about a chance to get on the field.

That seems likely to happen for the young quarterback Sunday when the Buffalo Bills visit the Atlanta Falcons in the second-last game of the regular season.

"I think everybody just wants an opportunity, and if I get the opportunity on Sunday to go out there — any play — I need to seize it," Brohm said. "No matter what the circumstances. It doesn't matter that this is my first week getting reps in this offense. None of that matters. I think I need to seize the opportunity and try to make the most of it."

Brohm took all the snaps with the first team again in Thursday's practice. Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick remained out with a sprained ankle. Interim head coach Perry Fewell again stopped short of ruling Fitzpatrick out for the game.

"He felt much better today, did a little throwing before practice, and we'll wait and see tomorrow," Fewell said on Fitzpatrick.

Presuming Brohm starts, it will be his first NFL regular-season action. He was a second-round draft pick of the Green Bay Packers in 2008 after an outstanding career at the University of Louisville. He spent all of last season as the inactive, third QB of the Packers. This summer, the Packers cut him after preseason and put him on their practice squad. The Bills plucked him off that squad Nov. 19.

So that gives Brohm just five weeks of exposure to the Bills' offensive terminology and system. Wednesday was the first time he threw passes to starting receivers Lee Evans and Terrell Owens.

Asked if he had an idea of what was going on in the offense the past month, Brohm said:

"I definitely had an idea, being around for I guess the last five weeks now, getting a feel for the offense, knowing the route concepts," he said. "But it's totally different when you actually get the reps and you get to see the receivers run the routes live. I think before now I've been throwing to pretty much James [Hardy] and Justin Jenkins the whole time in practice. So now to get those reps with Lee [Evans] and Terrell [Owens], I can finally try to get a feel for how they run their routes."

Brohm went 24-9 as a starter at Louisville. He completed 65.8 percent of his passes in college and set a Big East Conference record with 18 300-yard passing games.

Brohm admits he got off to a bad start as a rookie in Green Bay. He completed 62.9 percent of his passes in preseason this year but was beaten out for the No. 2 job by seventh-round pick Matt Flynn.

"One of the things we liked about him coming out was his accuracy, his ability to anticipate, see windows, get it out early," said Bills offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt. "His arm is fine. There's not an issue there with arm strength. The biggest thing for him is just getting on the same page with the receivers."

"It was definitely humbling," Brohm said of not making the Packers' 53-man roster this year. "I think in the end hopefully it will make me a better player, a better person, and it kept me pushing to work hard every single day."

The coaching staff will need to work hard to get Brohm ready.

Said Van Pelt: "It didn't really hit me until [Wednesday] morning when we started installing the pass game, going through it at a rapid rate and then we kind of realized, I'm really explaining camp stuff — protection issues, when are we hot, what makes us hot, what do these protections mean.

"But he has played a ton of football in his career. We have to help him, not jumping offsides, not putting us in bad situations behind the chains, so we can stick with our plan."

"It will be a big game for me and a great opportunity," Brohm said. "You never know how many opportunities you're going to get. You have to be ready to take advantage of them."