… OK, it’s not that bad. Crowell isn’t the difference between a dominant run D and “well over 4 YPC”… Stroud is. And Stroud is fine.

this is stupid and a huge buzz kill. I was so pumped to see how crowell and mitchell would gel and thought they could really improve the gaps in the run defense.

I think Crowell is the key to the LB’s as he makes everyone there better with his experience and great tackling ability. Hopefully he is back by week 5.

they did address it with Mitchell, but again, the depth is poor. DiGi and Ellison are not starting caliber LB’s and should really never see the field defensively other than situaionally. I dread seeing Corto in there.

We can always bring Spragan back (rolls eyes).

I’d cut Bryan right now and get the best LB available right now….

I doubt it’s the latter because that’s far more harmful to him. Who wants to give a guy a big contract after having some knee surgery during the season and missing out and showing what he can do.

Can’t the Bills just skip the 3rd LB and play nickel defense for Sunday? I’d rather see Bryan Scott in there instead of Ellison. If we have to have the 3rd LB, what about putting DiGi in at OLB?

Nuts! Now I’m gonna have to find a new avatar…nice timing, Angelo.

do you hate him all of a sudden because he’s having surgery? yikes

And it’d be about as stupid a thing as a player could do if he really wants more money. There’s nothing like getting that big pay day from standing on the sidelines. Just ask Jason Peters.

WOW. Where do you and WABillsfan come up with this stuff. I’m sorry, but that is the stupidist, most backwards theory I have seen in awhile. Like K points out, wouldn’t getting a knee surgery during the regular season, no matter how minor, be the worst possible way to get MORE money? That would be a dumber way to get the team to offer a new contract than what Peters is doing.

Here is a realistic reason for waiting to get the surgery:

The obvious reason is that the team doctors kept telling Crowell that his knee was fine and that the injury was minor and it would heal itself. The doctors obviously told Crowell the pain would subside with rest. Well the doctors were wrong and his knee didn’t get better with rest alone and Crowell and the team doctors have decided it is safer to get the surgery and miss 2-3 weeks, than play with a knee that wasn’t totally healthy and caused him pain. Its a risk reward thing and the Bills don’t want to risk the injury lingering which might cause him to spend a season without practicing and on every injury report.

If you want a conspiracy theory, here is the most likely one:

Crowell is trying to get every extra dollar he can next offseason and having a surgery perfromed is the opposite way to accomplish that. It is possible that Crowell knew he would probably need surgery and knew his injury might linger into the season, but he risked it anyways in an attempt to get a better contract from Buffalo or someone else next offseason.

Worded it better than I did.

Where did you hear that?

I think it’s the opposite.

They are telling Crowell to F off for having the surgery right now.

I wish the Bills had kept Coy Wire.

He failed a physical!!

if the injury is indeed that minor.

Really, how dumb is this front office if they are putting him on IR to spite him? Nothing like not allowing players to play to set a good example for how you treat them.

They decide to take away one of our better defenders for the season because they are mad at him? Really? Are they a mother scolding their son for coming home late? What a joke.

This would be such a great message to send to the fans and players. You’d rather send a message to an individual player, while hurting the entire team and the chance to win. Again, really?

I just can’t comprehend this being the case. His injury HAS to be more serious, just has to be. If the FO is pissed at him for having the surgery today, FINE, take away a paycheck or suspend him for a game. Maybe he was expecting the knee to improve over the preseason, like it had in prior years, but this time it didn’t respond, so he had the surgery instead of potentially making it worse. I’d have no issue with that. It’s not like Crowell hadn’t been playing injured and in pain all last year too…

Again, if the reason they IR’ed him is due to hurt feelings, then this front office is a bunch of yahoos with too much power.

if this is the way the FO is going to handle these situations with Peters and Crowell, it just doesn’t bode well for this franchise. Developing and keeping our best players has always been a serious concern and it seems like the Bills still don’t get it

I wouldn’t go out and call Crowell unprofessional without knowing the entirety of the situation yet. Remember, he is the same guy who’s knee was bothering him all last season and still fought through the entire year without missing any games.

Crowell very well could have figured the knee was going to heal and respond the way it had all last year. Maybe this time, after practicing yesterday, he realized it wasn’t close enough to 100% to give it a go. In order to play healthy enough and for the entire year, maybe he wanted to have the surgery instead of giving it a go at far less than 100%. We don’t know….

Again though, if the FO put him on IR to spite him, they are dumb and completely out of line, IMO….