McGee has minor knee surgery
They don't call Buffalo Bills cornerback Terrence McGee "Gameday" for nothing.
McGee has been dealing with a sore knee for the last five games but you wouldn't know it by his play. He has been a solid performer on the outside for the Bills defense.
McGee waited until the Bills' bye week to have the knee fixed. He underwent surgery on Tuesday to repair a torn meniscus, which is cartilage in the knee. He said Tuesday the surgery was a success and he does not expect to miss much playing time. He might miss the next game against Tennessee.
"They said everything went good," said McGee, who was walking with the slight aid of crutches. "I'm not so sure how long the recovery time is, a couple weeks maybe. Something like two weeks. It's not real long. So this bye week helped me out."
McGee has been on the injury list with a sore knee since he was hurt in Miami on Oct. 4, but he did not miss any playing time. McGee sprinted the length of the field to chase down ballcarriers on two plays in Carolina. Teammates call McGee "Gameday" because he is known for playing regardless of bumps and bruises.
"It mostly was affecting me during the week," McGee said. "After the game you wake up the next day and you really feel it then. So during the week coaches have been giving me time to recover so I'd be able to play on Sunday. During the game on Sunday the majority of the time it would be all right. There would be several plays where I'd cut a certain way and I'd feel it. My knee would kind of give out. But the majority of the time, it really wasn't affecting me too much."
McGee said he's happy he will be 100 percent the rest of the season.
"When you're playing [Houston's] Andre Johnson and [Carolina's] Steve Smith, you definitely don't want to have your pinkie toe hurt," McGee said. "These guys are fast, athletic great receivers. You don't want to have that doubt in you. With this bye week, I can get rest, get healed up. I don't have to worry about it during the season."
Bills running back Fred Jackson said McGee gets respect from teammates for his toughness.
"You gotta admire a guy like that; he kind of sets the tone for everybody around him," Jackson said. "I think it speaks for itself in how he prepares for the game. He wants to be a part of everything and in full force. He's a great model for all the young guys."
Bills rookie safety Jairus Byrd said he will know more about his sore groin and abdomen next week.
Byrd visited a specialist in Philadelphia on Monday in what coach Dick Jauron said was a previously scheduled checkup on his abdomen. Byrd underwent surgery to repair a sports hernia in July. Byrd has been feeling some discomfort in the area and has had a sore groin the past couple weeks.
"I'm feeling all right; I'll be fine," Byrd said Tuesday in the locker room. "It's been a couple weeks that it's been nagging at me. The trainers have done a good job getting me through and prepared to go to games. I'm excited we have a bye week so I can try to get healthy and get back on track."
Byrd, who has seven interceptions already this season, did not want to get specific about what the specialist did.
"I won't go into detail," he said. "He did something and we'll see how it goes. They've kind of said sometimes you get scar tissue built up in there. It could be a lot of things. From what he did, we'll know more about how I react and what's going on as far as pain next week."
Does Byrd think he could miss some games?
"I wouldn't go that far," he said. "We'll see. Next week we'll know more."
A big group of veterans watched from the side Tuesday as the Bills held a bye-week practice in the fieldhouse. The Bills will practice again today before taking four days off.
Beside McGee and Byrd, the list of players resting or sitting out due to injury included Lee Evans, Terrell Owens, Keith Ellison, Chris Kelsay, Justin Jenkins, Jamon Meredith, Corey McIntyre, Shawn Nelson, Josh Reed, Aaron Schobel, Marcus Stroud, Jonathan Scott, Donte Whitner and Kyle Williams.
With Ellison hobbled, safety Bryan Scott took practice snaps at linebacker.
"I think it's more just in case of emergency and make sure that I'm prepared," said Scott. "I probably won't have to do it, but just in case you want to be ready."
Quarterback Trent Edwards, out the last two games with a concussion, said he participated in most of the work.
"I felt good. I did a little bit more [Tuesday] in practice," Edwards said. "I feel I'm getting better each day, getting stronger."
Edwards said he is going back home to California on the bye weekend.
"I think I'm going to head back and see my family for a couple days," he said. "Stanford [his alma mater] plays Oregon on Saturday. My high school team has a big game Friday night."
Edwards' high school team, Los Gatos, plays Palo Alto in a first-place showdown in their league.
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