Talking to reporters for the first time since his surgery, Curtis said, "Fortunately, I don't think I'm going to miss too much of the season."

While he was a little vague on the specifics of his surgery - "I don't know what exactly the procedure was, but they had to go in both sides and fix them" - he said he was told by surgeon Dr. William Meyers that his injury wasn't nearly as bad as the sports hernias suffered by teammates Donovan McNabb and L.J. Smith.

"He told me not to compare this to other injuries because they're completely different," Curtis said. "Both Donovan and L.J.'s were a lot more extensive and [had] a lot more damage. I wouldn't expect it to take as long as they took to get back."

McNabb, who played more than half of the 2005 season with a sports hernia, missed the final seven games of that season after having his surgery. Smith had surgery to repair his sports hernia in May 2007. He was back on the field less than 2 months later for the start of training camp, but needed surgery in September to repair scar tissue in his groin. He missed three of the next four games, and never was 100 percent last season.

"You don't want to miss any of the season," Curtis said. "But I figured I'd have the surgery now and get back as soon as possible. They haven't given me a timetable. It's kind of see how it feels as you go. As time passes, we'll have a better idea when I'll be back out there."

Coach Andy Reid said last week that Curtis suffered the injury in the Aug. 14 preseason game against the Carolina Panthers. Curtis said he "definitely aggravated it" in that game, but has had the injury for a while.

"I know I've had issues down there since my days in St. Louis," said Curtis, a Ram from 2003 to '06. "It's gotten worse over the years. I know I started feeling it in training camp about 3 or 4 days into it. It started giving me problems and it gradually became harder and harder to get through practice with it. After the [Carolina] game, it got to a point where it was hard to deal with."

It's unclear whether Curtis had told the Eagles' training staff about his injury. He didn't miss any practice time in training camp because of it.

"Football players . . . you're going to have to play through some pain sometimes," he said. "I underestimated it a little bit. I just figured it was one of those things you played through and eventually it got better. But it didn't."

While Curtis wants to get back on the field as soon as possible, he also wants to make sure he doesn't make the same mistake Smith made and come back too soon.

"I definitely don't want to come back too early and put myself out for more of the season," he said. "I'm going to be back out there when I know I can't do more damage to it. You don't want to lose more time. You want to make sure it's right. I don't know what the magic formula is. But I'll know when I'm ready."

There's not a lot of rehab Curtis can do at this point. He said he has started walking on a treadmill and has been instructed to increase the distance by a quarter-mile each day. At some point, he will begin jogging and stretching.

Complicating matters for the Eagles is the fact that their other starting wideout, Reggie Brown, also is out. He suffered a hamstring injury in the Carolina game and hasn't practiced since, though the team is hopeful he will be ready for the Sept. 7 season opener against the Rams. If he isn't, the likely Week 1 starters will be Hank Baskett, who had 16 receptions last season, and rookie sensation DeSean Jackson. If Brown can play, he and Jackson probably will be the starters.

"When somebody gets hurt, we go with the next guy who steps up and plays," offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg said. "That's just our mentality. We'd like to have Kevin back as quick as possible. He's a really good player. I think he's a little underrated, and he's a good player. We'd like him back as quick as we can. In the meantime, we have some pretty good players that will be able to step up and play at a high level."

The 5-9, 170-pound Jackson, a second-round pick in the April draft, has been impressive in the preseason, catching 16 passes in the first three games. He's quickly earned the trust of McNabb.

"It's a tough transition coming out of college," Curtis said. "But DeSean has shown a lot of maturity just the way he's come in here and worked. It's carrying over to the way he plays. He's going to be a huge addition for us." *