Hamdan May Play This Week For Bills

From Bucky Gleason of The Buffalo News:

The Buffalo Bills have little to play for but their pride over the final two games of the regular season, so they’re contemplating starting a third-string quarterback who has thrown only two NFL passes and hasn’t played in a game that mattered in five years. After all, there’s not much left to lose.

Bills coach Dick Jauron was at least tossing around the idea of playing Gibran Hamdan this week against the Denver Broncos if Trent Edwards isn’t available. The Bills were hoping J. P. Losman would spark their offense while Edwards nursed a groin injury, but he did little to help them or his future.

“I wouldn’t say that I wouldn’t [play Hamdan],” Jauron said this week. “It will take a little bit of time in the next couple of days as we get ready for Denver. We’ll talk things over and see.”

Losman’s contract expires after the season, signaling the end of the former first-round pick’s career in Buffalo. His playing days with the Bills might have ended Sunday, when his fumble on an ill-advised play was returned by Shaun Ellis for the winning score in a 31-27 loss to the New York Jets.

Hamdan has been the backup for the past two weeks with Edwards, hobbled by a sore groin, dressing as the third quarterback. Hamdan signed with the Bills last season after bouncing around practice squads in Miami, Seattle and San Francisco. He’s a former star in NFL Europa, winning most valuable player honors for Amsterdam in 2006.

His only NFL appearance came in 2003, when he completed one of two passes for 7 yards and was sacked twice while mopping up for the Seahawks. The 27-year-old from Indiana University completed 30 of 47 passes for 258 yards and no touchdowns in four preseason games this year. He was sacked five times.

“I prepare myself week in and week out as if I’m going to play,” Hamdan said. “That’s not going to change for me. It’s not something I control, in terms of where it goes. I’m going to do the same thing every week, as boring as it sounds.”

Losman was selected 22nd overall in the 2004 draft. He moved into the starting job once the Bills released Drew Bledsoe after the 2004 season. Losman lost the job last season to Edwards and requested to be traded but instead returned for a fifth season as a backup.

In five games this season, including two starts, Losman completed 60.6 percent of his passes for 584 yards, two touchdowns, two rushing TDs and five interceptions. He also fumbled eight times — losing four — and was sacked 15 times. Losman completed 24 of 39 passes for 148 yards and a TD on Sunday, but it was a sack and fumble that people will remember most.

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