Johnson to miss workouts after knee surgery

5/19/2008 5:15 PM

By KRISTIE RIEKEN
AP Sports Writer

HOUSTON (AP) -Andre Johnson recently had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee that will keep him from practicing with the Houston Texans until training camp in July.

Johnson injured his knee early last season and missed seven games with what the team called a knee sprain. He returned for the last seven games, but said he had a nagging pain in his knee when he ran.

``When I ran, period, it bothered me in the inside of my knee,'' he said. ``It was just something that just got real aggravating.''

That pain led the team to operate on his knee Thursday to ``clean it up.'' Johnson rode a stationary bike Monday at the first day of 13 practices the Texans have scheduled before taking a break before training camp.

``(It) had been bothering him and we wanted to make sure there was nothing wrong,'' coach Gary Kubiak said. ``It was fine, so they just did some cleanup work.''

Johnson said the surgery went well and he's already started his rehabilitation.

``I feel good right now,'' he said. ``It has a little bit of swelling, but nothing major. If you looked at my knee, you wouldn't really even be able to tell anything is wrong with it.''

Kubiak said they decided this would be a good time for the procedure so that Johnson can be healthy for the start of training camp.

``We kind of went back and forth with the knee throughout the offseason,'' Kubiak said. ``It wasn't feeling the way he wanted it to feel and so we tried to do some things, some rest and those type things to get it better.''

The two-time Pro Bowler, who had missed just three games in his career before the injury, had a career-high eight touchdowns despite playing in just nine games. He finished with 60 receptions for 851 yards.

Johnson's injury was just one of many the Texans offense dealt with last year. Running back Ahman Green missed 10 games with knee swelling and quarterback Matt Schaub sat out five with various injuries.

Green is excited about the possibilities for the team, which reached .500 for the first time in 2007, if the trio can remain healthy this season. He said he and Johnson had a conversation about how the team was able to have its best season despite playing for significant stretches without its best offensive players.

``Even though we had injuries, we were still able to fight and get eight wins,'' Green said. ``Hopefully we can stay healthy this year and do some things.''