By Tom E. Curran
CSNNE.com Patriots InsiderFollow @tomecurran
Troubled by a sports hernia throughout the 2010 season, Patriots outside linebacker Tully Banta-Cain could have had surgery to repairit when the season ended. He chose not to, hoping that -- with core strengthening and training -- the injury would improve. It didn't. So last week, Banta-Cain underwent surgery to have a long-standing injury repaired that will keep him down for more than a month. The decision to repair the injury now as opposed to back in February (or March, April, May or June) won't likely fly well with the Patriots coaching staff. You can't blame this on the lockout. Players have had full access to their team medical staffs even during the shutdown. Players like Tom Brady (foot) and Deion Branch (knee) have been able to get their progress monitored. And a player with an existing injury -- like Banta-Cain -- should have made the effort to have his progress checked. It's just a sports hernia. It's a relatively quick fix. The excuse that "it just got worse" doesn't really float because sports hernias generally don't get better. There's no other way around it. This is a bad miscalculation by Banta-Cain. Signed to a three-year, 13.5 million deal in March 2010 after a 10-sack season in 2009, Banta-Cain had 50 tackles and five sacks in 2010 and lost standing on the depth chart. He's on the books to make 2.3 million in salary this season. The Patriots -- already hurting for pass rushers -- now have one of their best pass rushers (at least on reputation) on the shelf. Bad for business. Tom E. Curran can be reached at tcurran@comcastsportsnet.com. Follow Tom on Twitter at http:twitter.comtomecurran