Obviously, I don't have the particulars or x-rays of his injury. Is the injury Proximal (towards the wrist) or Distal (towards the finger tip)? Either way both physicians say that it would be difficult to throw a football even with a hairline fracture. Once the Periosteum is disrupted, the tissue lining that covers the bone that also carries the nerves, it will be pretty painful just trying to grip the ball let alone throw it.
The image on the right is an extreme type of injury showing comminuted fracture with a dislocation of the joint. Again this is an EXTREME injury and it is not indicative of Sanchez's injury but the mechanism of injury is probably similar to what Sanchez suffered during the scrimmage.
So what does this mean? Gary Klein at the LA Times has a little more realistic prognosis in his article today. Michael McDonald now moves into the #2 position while freshman Aaron Corp stays at #3. Corp took the majority of the snaps and it could indicate that he would pressed into service quickly if JDB is injured or McDonald prove ineffective. I think it's important not to get to crazy about this. Provided Booty stays injury free here is how the following scenarios would shake out. The first game is two weeks away against Idaho and while we all expect a blowout the only thing affected would be Sanchez's play in garbage time. A bye week follows and the we get ready for Nebraska in Lincoln and that will a daunting task for any of our QB's. By then we're in week five out of a possible six of Sanchez being out. He could be ready by then if he is needed.
As I said on Sunday, Sanchez needs to get his head back in the game. I'm sure the Mustain situation probably ticked him off a bit, but he needs to understand that this is how it will be if he expects to succeed here and ultimately get to the next level. Competition is a bitch sometimes and this is where you need to dig down deep and make it happen.