The buzz of a new Las Vegas Raiders season was quelled hard on Wednesday with the news that tight end Brock Bowers has undergone a (seemingly) minor knee surgery and is expected to miss "a game or two" after being injured late the previous week. Klint Kubiak can't rush him back as Pete Carroll did.
One or two games feel optimistic when it comes to Bowers' meniscus trim. Kubiak proved in the process that he can't be trusted regarding injuries when he said, shortly before the Bowers report surfaced, that he expected to have everyone available for Sunday's opener vs. the Miami Dolphins.
A lack of full knowledge, some general vagueness, and/or professing optimism about an injury to a player of Bowers' stature is one thing. But Kubiak flat-out lied, and there's no defending it.
Appearing on The Pat McAfee Show on Thursday, ESPN's Adam Schefter talked about Bowers undergoing a meniscus trim less than a week before the season opener. As McAfee mentioned the reported timetable for Bowers to return, Schefter interjected to cast doubt on a report he was part of.
"The one-to-two-week projection is coming, essentially from people around him. Him and people around him," Schefter said. "That's what they believe."
Schefter noted how it wouldn't be "practical or realistic" for Bowers to be at full strength if he only missed a game or two. A 4-to-6-week timetable for a full recovery from a meniscus trim, depending on the extent of the procedure, is not unreasonable.
On Thursday's edition of The Rich Eisen Show, Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer added another troubling layer to the Bowers situation.
"That’s a wear-and-tear injury. And having him in this, I don’t want to scare anybody here because it was a trim rather than a repair, which gets him back sooner rather than later," Breer said. "But there was some wear-and-tear stuff on him coming out of Georgia."
Breer recoiled a bit, hesitating to set off "alarm bells" while also mentioning Maxx Crosby's situation last year. But the damage was already done, as he noted how Bowers' situation does "get your attention, just as far as the amount of mileage he has just three years into his career.”
All in all, the next move for the Raiders with Bowers couldn't be clearer: let him rest. Don't pull a Pete Carroll.
Klint Kubiak doesn't have to make the same mistake Pete Carroll made with Brock Bowers
If this all feels like a bit of déjà vu, it should.
Bowers suffered an injury to his left knee in Week 1 last season, to his PCL, along with a bone bruise. He played the next three games, clearly not at anywhere close to 100%, then missed the following three games. With the benefit of the bye week, he returned in Week 9.
Then, out of nowhere, as the Raiders aligned themselves to earn the No. 1 pick in the draft, Bowers was shut down for the season with two games to go, as the knee issue was apparently still a thing. This was malpractice by last year's staff.
If Carroll had not been the head coach last season, with the "win now" mode that came with him, Bowers maybe would not have played the three games after the injury. Maybe he would've missed a couple more games beyond that and returned to action.
But combined that win-now approach, and no thought of the long-term impact of a lingering injury, with a player wanting to play, and you get what occurred.
Carroll was willing to be pushed around by players on the injury front, so he experienced the double-whammy of losing a bunch of games while the best players played. He had nothing to do with the decisions to shut Bowers and Maxx Crosby down with two games left, and he even lightly lamented what was done in regard to Crosby.
It's unclear whether the current issue for Bowers is with his left knee, but there's video evidence from training camp in mid-August that would suggest it is. Then there's the question of why the surgery had to wait so long if he had a problem back then.
As a young head coach in his first season, Kubiak has leeway Carroll didn't, or wouldn't allow himself to have, when it comes to notable injuries. While Bowers' presence, even at less than full health, would be nice, will it really lead to more wins this season? Or enough to tilt the balance for the playoffs?
The focus should be on making sure one of the players you hope will be part of the core for years to come can fully recover as he deals with a knee issue again.
Kubiak has already shown he's, refreshingly, a lot of things that Carroll wasn't as a head coach and a leader of the on-field program. That needs to extend to how Bowers' injury situation and long-term health are handled this time around.
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