KANSAS CITY -- Brodie Croyle says he's ready, but coach Herm Edwards insists there's no way to know if the second-year backup will be needed as Kansas City's starting quarterback on Sunday.
Starter Damon Huard, 34, sustained what the Chiefs said was a shoulder contusion on Sunday in a 17-7 loss to Jacksonville in which the Chiefs rushed for only 10 yards. Croyle, who was expected to be the starter this year until he played poorly in the preseason, came into the game in the fourth quarter and led a last-minute touchdown drive.
Edwards said he might not know until Wednesday who would start against Cincinnati this week. Huard declined to speak with reporters Monday, but did say his shoulder was feeling "a lot better."
"Damon is still trying to get the MRI done late this afternoon, so we'll see where he's at as far as playing," Edwards said. "I don't know what he can do. I'll know more probably tomorrow or Wednesday, whether he can throw or not."
Behind Huard, the offense has struggled in all but one quarter of the first five games. Often plagued with terrible field position, the Chiefs (2-3) have fallen behind by at least 10 points in every game. In wins against Minnesota and San Diego, the defense pitched a second-half shutout and the offense was able to muster enough points to win.
Croyle hit a 13-yard TD pass to Samie Parker on the last play from scrimmage against Jacksonville that enabled the Chiefs to avoid their first shutout at home since 1994. Altogether, he was 6 of 13 for 83 yards. In similar mop-up duty at Chicago on Sept. 16, he was 4-for-4 for 55 yards in a 20-10 loss.
Croyle, 24, is 10 years Huard's junior and appeared ready to take over as starter before his preseason performance. He said he had not been told if he would play on Sunday.
"I feel the same as I felt going into training camp, after training camp," said Croyle. "I always felt whenever my time was called, we're going to run with it. If that's this week, great. If not, then whenever it comes, we'll just go then."
The mop-up duty against Chicago and Jacksonville has helped, he said.
"Confidence-wise, I'm the same. That's the thing with playing quarterback -- you better be confident in yourself because as soon as you start second-guessing a throw, that's when you're going to get yourself in trouble. But I feel better out there. I'm seeing things better. Things are starting to slow down. The more and more you get game opportunity, that's the better you get."
Edwards said throwing a young quarterback into a situation the Chiefs are now facing would not be ideal.
"No doubt. If he's going to have the opportunity to play, and we won't know that until later this week, you'd like things functioning around him well," Edwards said. "This last game, we had to throw the ball 43 times. You don't want to do that. That kills you. It would be nice if we could run the football. We've got to be able to do that. It would also be nice if we weren't down all the time. We haven't scored a point in the first quarter."
In five games, Huard is 97-for-149 for 1,029 yards, with four touchdowns and six interceptions.
"I think Damon's played pretty consistent," guard Brian Waters said. "I think he's played well under the circumstances. We've had absolutely no run game. We've given up a few sacks, more than we prefer, and we've been in a lot of situations where we've been behind. A lot of errors have been not his fault. We haven't had the greatest field position in the world. I think he's played real well under the circumstances."
Edwards said wide receiver Eddie Kennison aggravated a hamstring injury on Sunday and was "shaky" for Sunday. Kennison also had an MRI on Monday.
Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press.
