I was shocked and bummed out when I heard this. The best player on the O-line goes down a week before game 1. Not great.
I thought, well he must have just injured it in practice, that's too bad! But then heard that he's been dealing with it all through camp, excuse me? I have to wonder why he/they waited?
If it was a problem, if grip strength is as important to an offensive lineman as we know it is, why try to play through it all training camp? Why wait until a week before the opener to chose to have the surgery? I don't know the details, I wasn't in the room, but from my perspective it just doesn't make sense to me.
Knowing that it will sideline the best player on the line for 4-6wks. Which runs over a stretch of games that are not going to be easy for the back O-lineman to play against. The NYG, Balt, and Houston D-lines are very formidable.
IMHO, the very moment he/they realized that he had an issue, one that will require surgery to fix, he should have had the surgery. He didn't need another training camp to get ready, more than he needed to be ready for the season. But here we are.
Good luck TJ Bass step up and make us proud.