The team announced Wednesday that Andrews, who had missed the previous four games with a lower back injury, had surgery a day earlier to repair a herniated disk.

Trainer Rick Burkholder put the recovery time for Andrews at anywhere from six weeks to three months. The Eagles, clearly hoping for a fairly speedy recovery, aren't going to put Andrews on injured reserve. At least not yet.

If he is able to return in six weeks, he'd be back in time for the Eagles' critical four-game December homestretch, which includes division games against the New York Giants, Washington Redskins and Dallas Cowboys.

"We'll see," coach Andy Reid said. "We're not going to do anything right now. We'll see how it plays out here and how he's feeling. It's tough to tell (how quickly he'll be able to return). We'll see what the next few days and the next week or two bring. We'll see how he's feeling then."

Andrews first injured his back in the Eagles' 41-37 Week 2 loss to the Cowboys. When it didn't get any better, he got opinions from four different back specialists. The last one was from Dr. Robert Watkins, who operated on Eagles left tackle Tra Thomas' back three years ago. Watkins did the surgery on Andrews this week.

Max Jean-Gilles, an '06 fourth-round pick out of Georgia, has replaced Andrews at right guard and has done a pretty good job. At 350 pounds, he's a masher like Andrews, but doesn't have Andrews' athleticism.

"Max has done a very good job," Reid said. "The thing he's done is he's improved every week. The guys around him have a lot of trust in him. He's playing good football right now."

The Eagles have only allowed 10 sacks in six games, none in the last two games - a 23-17 loss to the Redskins and a 40-26 win over the 49ers. Where they've struggled a bit without Andrews is in the running game. They're averaging just 3.7 yards per carry, which is the lowest rushing average of the Andy Reid era.

Andrews' absence hardly is the only reason for that, though. In fact, it's probably not even the main reason. The main reason is that their star running back, Brian Westbrook, has only been healthy for 11 of 24 quarters this season.

Westbrook, who led the league in yards from scrimmage last season, missed the 49ers game with fractured ribs. He will play this week, but it remains to be seen how much. Westbrook is averaging just 3.6 yards per carry and 6.9 yards per catch. Both numbers are way below his career averages.

SERIES HISTORY: 24th regular-season meeting. Eagles lead the series, 12-10-1. They last played in Week 17 of the '06 season, with the Eagles winning 24-17. The Eagles defeated the Falcons in the 2004 NFC Championship Game, 27-10, to earn their only Super Bowl invitation since 1980.