This is what we need to see -- Andrews on the field.


Pro Bowl guard Shawn Andrews has had what his doctor, Robert G. Watkins, III, is calling a "successful" surgery on his back.

Andrews' back has been bothering him for quite some time, so there's hope that this latest surgery will be the very last and open the door for a return to the playing field. He's been sidelined all but two games of the last two seasons, so it probably feels like forever since he's done anything meaningful on the field.

However, I think to call a surgery "successful" at this point is a bit premature. Okay, I understand it's a success because nothing went wrong, it was a smooth operation, and the doctor expects him to play again. But the last surgery he had was also a "success."

How in the world is it a success when the man had to sit out this season and the last? A surgery is successful when the man/woman being operated on can go back to what they were doing on an everyday basis before surgery was needed.

Until Andrews is back on that field and starting, the surgery wasn't a success.

Perhaps I'm just a fan who's tired of seeing doctors tell us that Shawn, and others, will be just fine -- only to come out and suffer just as badly or worse than what they did before the surgery.

Either way, I'd say that Andrews' chances of coming back next season are sketchy -- at best.

Reid would love to have him back next season -- and really, who wouldn't want the Pro Bowl guard? -- but it may become too much of a headache to keep him. I'm a personal fan of Andrews when he's on the field and didn't really buy into the rumor that he was faking this injury, but I do think that a lot of his issues are mental.

I'm not sure how much he wants to play this game, but I think we'll get that answer sometime next year in July.