Bills LB Crowell Out For Season Opener
Chris Brown, BuffaloBills.com

Buffalo Bills LB Angelo Crowell is out for Sunday's game after deciding to undergo arthroscopic knee surgery due to a persistent knee problem. According to HC Dick Jauron, the decision "came out of the blue" as Crowell will have the surgery in the coming days. "He's out for the game and that's a surprise," said Jauron. Keith Ellison will step into the starting lineup to fill the void, Jauron said.

From the link...

awesome

At least it's early, before bye weeks start. Glad I have plenty of depth and Witherspoon is (supposedly) healty.

Does this effect Schobel's value for this weeks game at all?

No. Unless you believe Crowell is such a dynamic player that the Seahawks are no longer as likely to be in clear passing situations as often, Schobel's value stays approximately the same. Since the Seahawks are likely to pass plenty out of their pass offense anyway and Crowell's presence wouldn't have assured a bunch more second and third and long situations, I wouldn't worry here.

give me a break

good news for Keith Ellison.

What about Posluszny, does his value go up a little with Crowell out?

Unbelivable , why put him on IR when its a 2-4 week injury ??

Big Blow to my defence

OUT FOR THE SEASON

Bills lose leading tackler Crowell for season

Bills placed SLB Angelo Crowell (knee surgery) on injured reserve, ending his season
The surgery was called a "scope," but may have been more serious. Crowell, who led Buffalo with 126 tackles in 2007, will be a free agent in the spring. The Bills will replace him with smallish converted safety Keith Ellison and should remain a good matchup for opposing running backs this year. Sep. 4 - 5:56 pm et

Wow! Poslunszny could be in for a huge year.

That's what I'm wondering, Jene, what's your take?

ORLY??????????

Talk about out of nowhere. Must have found a serious cartilage issue or an undiagnosed ligament tear.

Keith Ellison gets a sizable bump, but probably gives way to Kawika Mitchell in the nickel packages. If that happens, Mitchell has LB3 upside as one of those every-down SLBs that sees some time away from the TE like Michael Boley did last season.

Posluszny was going to have a monster year anyway. I thought 100 solos was easily in range before; now it would appear to be a near lock. Could also have some ripple effect for Donte Whitner and Terrence McGee as well.

This article speculates that the Bills IR'ed Crowell as a retaliation for his delaying the decision to have surgery until 3 days before the season opener.

http://www.buffalobills.com/news/news.jsp?news_id=6533

Sorry for the hijack, but what is up with Posluszny missing practice yesterday?

Here's the note from the end of one of the Crowell articles.

First Osi and now Crowell. This is killing me.

Waiver wire pickings are slim (12 team league, roster 6 LBs each).

Is Ellison a good replacement for Crowell as I can IR him now.

Other possible options:
Bradie James
Omar Gaither (available next week)
Kawika Mitchell (next week)
Daryl Smith
Greg Ellis
Leon Williams
Demorrio Williams
Brandon Chiller
Larry Foote

And a bunch of other scrubs.

Anything there look at all interesting?

My other 5 rostered LBs are:
Willis
Beason
McIntosh
Thomas Davis (yea, to Panthers, just worked out that way)
Lofton

So they are more than willing to hurt their team by unnecessarily placing him on IR just to prove a point? wow.

This is strange. Need roster space, why not put him on the PUP list? There has to be more to this.

My understanding is a player cannot go on the PUP if he practiced or played at any point in the pre-season.

I don't remember hearing that Crowell was held out of training camp, and if in fact he was practicing, the Bills only choices were to carry him on the 53-man active roster in hopes of a return sometime this season, stash him on the IR or release him with an injury settlement.

...any updates on the situation in BUF w/Crowell?
Did he have the surgury?
I believe he was in the last year of his contract, so could be traded?

Any insider/homer takes (Aaron) would be appreciated!

there's been very little news leaking out on this and no type of response/statement from Crowell or his agent.

Chris Brown at the Bills homepage posted this update on Friday:


So, it sounds like Crowell still hasn't even decided to definitely have the surgery. This whole situation still doesn't sit well with me. I'd really like to hear Crowell's reaction or a real reaction from some of his teammates. Seems the Bills jumped the gun in terms of putting him on IR but since the team is playing well, nobody seems to want to rock the boat.

Crowell may have wanted a new contract from BUF before the start of this season since K.Mitchell got some decent $.
Putting him on IR pretty much stacks the deck against Crowell as he tests the market when his contract expires this year.

ETA: May have also had something to do with the intiial "back-and-forth" about whether Crowel would play WLB or SLB when Mitchell arrived.