Eagles' Justice ‘clean-out' procedure successful

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Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Posted: 7:05 p.m.

By Reuben Frank
CSNPhilly.com

As expected, Eagles offensive tackle Winston Justice did not need major surgery on his left knee and underwent only a minor arthroscopic procedure Tuesday to clean out the knee, the team announced Tuesday evening.

A high-ranking Eagles source said on Monday said there was absolutely no reason to believe Justice had a career-threatening injury after a published report that there was a chance Justice faced the far more serious microfracture procedure.

Although anything is possible once a doctor goes into the knee with a scope, the Eagles did not have any reason to believe Justices knee needed more than a debridgement, or clean-out.

The Eagles announced that Justice had only the debridgement, and the routine procedure was performed by noted Birmingham, Ala.-based knee specialist James Andrews. A team official said Justice does not face any additional surgery.

Left tackle Jason Peters underwent a similar procedure in early October, missed just two games, and was back in the starting lineup by Nov. 7. He was picked to the Pro Bowl team but didnt play.

Justice missed wins over the Cowboys and Giants in December with knee soreness and swelling before returning to action. King Dunlap, who filled in for Peters during his injury, started for Justice in those games and then replaced Justice in the second half of the playoff loss to the Packers after Justice was benched.

Justice, who turns 27 two days after the scheduled 2011 opening day, was the 39th pick in the 2006 draft. Hes started 30 games in five NFL seasons, including 16 in 2009 and 13 this past year. He signed a four-year, 18.15 million contract extension during the 2009 season that runs through 2013 and pays him base salaries ranging from 2.7 million in 2011 to 3.75 million in 2013.

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E-mail Reuben Frank at rfrank@comcastsportsnet.com.

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