ENGLEWOOD, Colo. --For three weeks, Champ Bailey has patiently watched his team grab three wins from the sideline as he recovers from a foot injury.

"I seem patient? Oh man, (I'm) fooling somebody," Bailey said Thursday. "It's been tough."

Bailey has been a limited participant in each of the team's past five practices. He was listed as questionable for Week 3 -- he was held out of the game -- and if he is limited again in Friday's practice, his designation will likely be "questionable" again for this Sunday's matchup.

The cornerback said it's still up in the air when he will make his regular-season debut, but that "hopefully" it will be this week.

"It's mainly my call because it's my foot and only I know how it feels. They're going to listen to me and I appreciate that from them," he said. "When I feel good, I'll be out there. When I feel like I can play and help my team, I'll be out there."

The foot injury occurred in the team's second preseason game against Seattle. Bailey was "open-minded" about how long the recovery would take, and he said he still can't do everything that he wants to do on the football field.

"I don't want to go out there and be half-stepping," he said. "This is the NFL. You can't go out there half-stepping and think you're going to get the job done."

While he's dealt with nagging hamstring injuries before, he's never had to handle a foot injury of this kind.

"I could overcome that with certain things -- I'm not going to feel it every play," Bailey said of a hamstring injury. "But this foot -- we stand on our feet."

So, he'll wait -- patiently or not -- for the right time to get back on the field.

"I just want to make the right decision," he said. "Right now, I don't know what that is. I'm trying to figure that out."