Is it time to hit the panic button on Tom Brady?

The 42-year old quarterback appears visibly uncomfortable with an injury to his right elbow as the 11-3 Patriots prepare to host the 10-4 Bills in a critical matchup that could decide the AFC East.

In a video shot by WBZ-TV, Brady is seen shaking out his throwing arm after a pass during Thursday’s practice. The elbow injury first popped up on Nov. 22 heading into the team’s Week 12 win over Cowboys when he was surprisingly listed as questionable. He tweaked it again in a Dec. 8 loss to the Chiefs and appeared at the postgame press conference with his right elbow wrapped.

Head coach Bill Belichick admitted that Brady’s recent limitations have forced him to prepare with different personnel.

“There have been a couple examples where Tom [Brady] hasn’t been able to do a lot this year,” Belichick said during a press conference on Tuesday. “That’s given [Jarrett] Stidham an opportunity to go with our first-team group and run our plays and run our offense [and] that’s given Cody [Kessler] a chance to run scout-team plays because Jarrett’s not running those.

“Those guys are always ready to go, and it’s an opportunity for them.”

Stidham, a 23-year-old rookie, was selected in the fourth round out of Auburn. He has appeared in three games this year during mop-up duty for a total of four pass attempts. Kessler, 26, played for four teams prior to joining the Patriots this year. He started eight games with the Browns in 2016 and four games with the Jaguars in 2018.

It is impossible to say the severity to which this injury has affected Brady’s performance this year, but the beleaguered quarterback has been far from the offensive juggernaut of years past. He is completing a career-worst 60.1 percent of his passes this season which ranks 28th of 31 qualified quarterbacks. The first meeting between these teams took place on Sep. 29 in Buffalo with the Patriots prevailing 16-10. Brady tallied 150 yards without a touchdowns and one interception.

On Tuesday, Brady was passed over in the Pro Bowl selection for the first time since 2008 when he tore his ACL in the Patriots’ season opener.

“I mean, you don’t always want to do it that way,” Belichick said of preparing his quarterbacks in practice. “Sometimes it’s best to do things that way, and then that’s good for everybody. But, you know, we want everybody out there as healthy as they can be, so that’s ultimately the goal. But it’s not always that way.”

A win in Sunday’s game — or next week against the Dolphins — would clinch the Patriots’ 11th-consecutive AFC East title, and 15th in the Brady era.

Patriots-Bills kicks off on Saturday at 4:30 PM EST.