Left guard Kory Lichtensteiger has begun to rehab his surgically repaired knee. The third-year player tore his MCL, ACL and meniscus in the Redskins' 20-13 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 6.

"I think the standard is something like 6-8 months [of rehab], so sometime in June or July I'll be back at it," he said.

Lichtensteiger spoke to the media on Wednesday for the first time since the injury. He was placed on injured reserve on Oct. 18.

Lichtensteiger suffered the injury toward the end of an offensive play as he was engaged with an Eagles defensive lineman. He knew immediately the injury was a significant one.

"I walked off okay so that was encouraging," he said, "but as soon as I got the sideline I tried to walk on my own and it just kept buckling.

"I knew there was no ligament in there holding [the knee] in place. I knew it was definitely a season-ender."

There was some speculation that Lichtensteiger's injury was the result of a dirty play, but he wasn't sure. The injury itself was not captured on film.

"I don't think I can go out there and say something like that because I just don't know," Litchensteiger said. "It all happened so fast for me and to not be able to back that up with film, I can't say."

Earlier this season, Lichtensteiger was emerging as a valuable contributor and helped strengthen the offensive line. He was in the beginning of a contract year and was eager to show how much he had improved since last year.

"That's the toughest part," Litchensteiger said. "I felt like this was kind of my year to do big things and I was really starting to feel comfortable. I thought I had most of the parts of my game working the best that I have ever played, so that adds another level of frustration, getting injured so early in the season."

In addition to the frustration of injury, Litchensteiger is disappointed that he cannot aid his offensive line-mates. The unit has struggled in recent weeks, and the Redskins yielded 10 sacks last Sunday vs. Buffalo, although not all of them are the linemens' fault.

All Lichtensteiger can do now is focus on getting healthy and getting back on the field.