steve74b Posted September 6, 2008 Share Posted September 6, 2008 It has been a whirlwind beginning to a season that hasn't officially started for the Buffalo Bills. Just three days prior to opening up the season the Bills learned they we would be without OLB Angelo Crowell for the entire year as the team placed him on IR ending his season. Crowell who has battled through knee pain for the past two seasons decided at a most inopportune time to have his knee scoped. Recovery time for such a procedure is anywhere form 2-4 weeks. The bills decided they could not wait and made the move that ended the season for the star linebacker. Crowell is in a contract year and after this it is certainly doubtful he will be in a Buffalo Bills uniform again. Crowell will be missed and the Bills may have jumped the gun on this decision. Was there truly a need for the roster spot? The Bills had 7 linebackers on their active roster, most teams carry 6. Take out Crowell and by my math the Bills were in a position to wait. Even if worst case scenario Crowell wasn’t ready to go until after the week 6 bye he would have been here to contribute at the most crucial time. The Bills have a relatively easy schedule to start the year and should be able to have themselves in a great position coming out of the bye week. Crowell’s return would have added a spark and greatly improved the defense. Keith Ellison will be asked to carry load at the strong side linebacker position vacated by Crowell. Ellison has started 16 games in his Bills career and all at weak side linebacker. When the Bills signed OLB Kawicka Mitchell from the Giants Ellison was moved to the strong side. Ellison has the speed and intelligence to play in this league but lacks size. Ellison has had the OTA’s, training camp and preseason games to adjust to the strong side linebacker position and says “Hopefully, I can slide right in and keep contributing." The Bills hope so too. The Bills did get some positive news nearly 24 hours later. Holdout All-Pro LT Jason Peters will report to the team on Saturday. A new contract agreement has not yet been reached between the two sides. Peters arguably the best player on the Buffalo Bills will not play this Sunday against the Seahawks but could be ready to return to the lineup as early as next week. With the addition of Peters Langston Walker will be able to move back to his natural position of RT. If the line remains healthy they could be one of the NFLs best. The timing by Jason Peters is questionable. He could have returned immediately following the Lions preseason finale and possibly have been ready to play for this weekend’s opener. He is coming back just in time to not lose a game check but not in enough time to be able to participate in the game. If I were a teammate of Peters this would not sit well with me. It is one thing to make a stand against management but an entirely different thing to leave your teammates high and dry. If it was Peters intention to return before the start of the season it should have been done a week ago. There is still a game to play this weekend and neither situation should have much effect on the outcome. The Seahawks travel to WNY a shell of themselves with injuries at WR and on both lines. The Bills are getting them at the right time. Stephen Brown - MYBUFFALOSPORTS.COM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d_wag Posted September 6, 2008 Share Posted September 6, 2008 It has been a whirlwind beginning to a season that hasn't officially started for the Buffalo Bills. Just three days prior to opening up the season the Bills learned they we would be without OLB Angelo Crowell for the entire year as the team placed him on IR ending his season. Crowell who has battled through knee pain for the past two seasons decided at a most inopportune time to have his knee scoped. Recovery time for such a procedure is anywhere form 2-4 weeks. The bills decided they could not wait and made the move that ended the season for the star linebacker. Crowell is in a contract year and after this it is certainly doubtful he will be in a Buffalo Bills uniform again. Crowell will be missed and the Bills may have jumped the gun on this decision. Was there truly a need for the roster spot? The Bills had 7 linebackers on their active roster, most teams carry 6. Take out Crowell and by my math the Bills were in a position to wait. Even if worst case scenario Crowell wasn’t ready to go until after the week 6 bye he would have been here to contribute at the most crucial time. The Bills have a relatively easy schedule to start the year and should be able to have themselves in a great position coming out of the bye week. Crowell’s return would have added a spark and greatly improved the defense. Keith Ellison will be asked to carry load at the strong side linebacker position vacated by Crowell. Ellison has started 16 games in his Bills career and all at weak side linebacker. When the Bills signed OLB Kawicka Mitchell from the Giants Ellison was moved to the strong side. Ellison has the speed and intelligence to play in this league but lacks size. Ellison has had the OTA’s, training camp and preseason games to adjust to the strong side linebacker position and says “Hopefully, I can slide right in and keep contributing." The Bills hope so too. The Bills did get some positive news nearly 24 hours later. Holdout All-Pro LT Jason Peters will report to the team on Saturday. A new contract agreement has not yet been reached between the two sides. Peters arguably the best player on the Buffalo Bills will not play this Sunday against the Seahawks but could be ready to return to the lineup as early as next week. With the addition of Peters Langston Walker will be able to move back to his natural position of RT. If the line remains healthy they could be one of the NFLs best. The timing by Jason Peters is questionable. He could have returned immediately following the Lions preseason finale and possibly have been ready to play for this weekend’s opener. He is coming back just in time to not lose a game check but not in enough time to be able to participate in the game. If I were a teammate of Peters this would not sit well with me. It is one thing to make a stand against management but an entirely different thing to leave your teammates high and dry. If it was Peters intention to return before the start of the season it should have been done a week ago. There is still a game to play this weekend and neither situation should have much effect on the outcome. The Seahawks travel to WNY a shell of themselves with injuries at WR and on both lines. The Bills are getting them at the right time. Stephen Brown - MYBUFFALOSPORTS.COM bills only had 6 LB's before the crowell injury - poz, mitchell, ellison, digiorgio, corto regardless, i think the better decision would have been to waive copeland byran (as the bills are carrying 5 DE's - only 4 of which will dress on gameday) and allow crowell to have surgery.....if things didn't look favorable post-surgery, that would have been the time to decide to move on Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuffaloWings Posted September 6, 2008 Share Posted September 6, 2008 bills only had 6 LB's before the crowell injury - poz, mitchell, ellison, digiorgio, corto regardless, i think the better decision would have been to waive copeland byran (as the bills are carrying 5 DE's - only 4 of which will dress on gameday) and allow crowell to have surgery.....if things didn't look favorable post-surgery, that would have been the time to decide to move on That would have made the most sense to me, too. I'm a little concerned at how quickly he went on IR, but I'm more annoyed with the fact that we have a season-ending injury before the first game is played. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewEra Posted September 6, 2008 Share Posted September 6, 2008 That would have made the most sense to me, too. I'm a little concerned at how quickly he went on IR, but I'm more annoyed with the fact that we have a season-ending injury before the first game is played. It's a major blow fsho Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cash Posted September 6, 2008 Share Posted September 6, 2008 bills only had 6 LB's before the crowell injury - poz, mitchell, ellison, digiorgio, corto regardless, i think the better decision would have been to waive copeland byran (as the bills are carrying 5 DE's - only 4 of which will dress on gameday) and allow crowell to have surgery.....if things didn't look favorable post-surgery, that would have been the time to decide to move on I agree. Do the Bills usually have 6 LBs dress on gameday? If not, their whole reasoning for putting Crowell on IR is blown apart. But even if they do, I'd still prefer to waive one of the Inactive 7 instead of losing 8-14 games (probably closer to 14 than 8) of contract-year production from an established starter. This move still strikes me as punitive and somewhat childish. Especially since Crowell is seeking a second opinion. I think the Bills assumed that the timing of Crowell's decision made it an Eff You move, and immediately struck back with an even bigger Eff You move. That will definitely hurt them in the short run, but it could go either way in the long run. I'm still very curious to hear from Crowell on this issue, because no one's gotten a quote from him since he went on IR. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsVet Posted September 6, 2008 Share Posted September 6, 2008 Crowell who has battled through knee pain for the past two seasons decided at a most inopportune time to have his knee scoped. Recovery time for such a procedure is anywhere form 2-4 weeks. The bills decided they could not wait and made the move that ended the season for the star linebacker. The Bills had 7 linebackers on their active roster, most teams carry 6. Take out Crowell and by my math the Bills were in a position to wait. Even if worst case scenario Crowell wasn’t ready to go until after the week 6 bye he would have been here to contribute at the most crucial time. The Bills have a relatively easy schedule to start the year and should be able to have themselves in a great position coming out of the bye week. Since when did TSW become a home for people's blogs? Your post featured several errors, especially the one about Crowell having surgery, which he hasn't. Initially, the team was convinced that he had, but first reports are usually incorrect. As someone previously noted, Buffalo carried only 6 LB's on the 53 man roster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkyMannn Posted September 6, 2008 Share Posted September 6, 2008 This morning's Buffalo News says Crowell hasn't had surgery yet, and is in fact shopping for second opinions. I'd wager he has some permanent damage and AC is trying to minimize the long term affects.....not that I would blame him for that Buff News story Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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