All-Pro wide receiver Andre Johnson hopes to be back in "a couple weeks" going down with an injury against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Johnson had minor surgery on Tuesday to remove scar tissue around a tendon in his right leg. He spoke to the media on Friday for the first time since his injury.
"If I had to pick a date, I would give it a couple weeks," Johnson said of when he'll return. "You really can't put a timeframe on it, but just my gut feeling right now, I would give it a couple weeks. It just depends on how it feels once the stitches come out."
Two incisions were made in Johnson's leg during his surgery. Johnson said his doctor told him that once the stitches are removed, he can "just go for it." He's scheduled to have his stitches checked on in five days.
"Out of any procedure I've ever had done, this is probably the best I've felt after I've had one done," he said. "I'm pretty confident about this one.
"As far as my rehab, I haven't felt any pain with any of the exercise I've been doing. I've been walking around normal. So actually, I'm pretty pumped. I wish I could go out there and try to run around today to see how it feels, but I have to just wait to get the stitches out and then we'll go all out."
Johnson said he had a "pretty big lump" of scar tissue built up around the tendon behind his knee.
"That's what the irritation and everything was coming from, so they had to go in and clean it up," he said. "I think it was just from an old injury. I've had problems with feeling pain behind my knee before...
"It bothered me a little bit during training camp, then it went away, then it came back again and I went down in the game against Pittsburgh. I'm just glad that it's over with, it's fixed and I can move on."
A five-time Pro Bowler, Johnson has been with the Texans since 2003. After going through so many disappointing seasons, he's understandably frustrated about missing time amid the Texans' 3-1 start.
"It's hard, especially the way we're playing as a team," he said. "When I came in the locker room after I got injured, that was the first thing I thought about. To have something like this happen, it's a bad feeling, but at the same time, it's a part of the game and I think it'll make us stronger as a football team and I think it makes me much better as a player.
"I just think that our team as a whole, the whole attitude of the team is totally different than it used to be. Of course, you don't want to lose anybody, but at the same time, we know what's at stake for our team. Guys are going to go out and get the job done.
"It'll be hard watching on the sidelines Sunday, but like I said, I'm going to do everything I can to hurry up and get back out on the field."
