Kenny Phillips tried to put a positive spin Friday on his six-game absence with a knee injury.
“It kept me from getting fined, which is a good thing,” the Giants’ big-hitting safety [and frequent target of the NFL safety police] said with a smile. “It kept a little money in my pocket.”
But Phillips appears to be back now — at a very fortunate time for a struggling defense tasked with stopping Aaron Rodgers and the surging Packers tomorrow night at MetLife Stadium.
Phillips, who insisted he would play despite being listed as questionable on the official injury report, will join linebacker Keith Rivers as newly healthy defenders expected to serve as much-needed reinforcements against Rodgers’ potent air attack.
Journeyman Stevie Brown played extremely well in stretches during Phillips’ absence, even winning NFC Defensive Player of the Week honors for his huge outing in last month’s road win over the Cowboys, but the Giants expressed widespread relief Phillips probably will be available again when they face Green Bay.
“The defense is never going to be up to par without Kenny in there,” safety Antrel Rolle said. “He’s an outstanding safety who makes a number of plays, and you know what you’re going to get from him every week. You know you’re going to get a playmaker and a game-changing player.”
Added linebacker Mathias Kiwanuka: “It’s going to be huge for us having Kenny back.”
Phillips likewise is glad to be back, though the question remains — for this week, at least — exactly how the Giants will fit him in. They could have him start ahead of Brown, back up Brown out of caution for Phillips’ knee or go back to the three-safety alignment that served Tom Coughlin’s team so well with the since-departed Deon Grant during last season’s Super Bowl run.
Coughlin would not commit to using three safeties now that Phillips appears to be healthy, though he appeared to be leaning in that direction.
“Well, there’s a possibility of [using three safeties] always, but until we know exactly how this is going to come about, you’ve got to protect yourself,” Coughlin said after the week’s final practice. “You have to have depth.”
Phillips, whose career appeared to be in doubt four years ago because of microfracture surgery to address arthritis in his knee, said he doesn’t want the Giants to be too cautious with him.
“Realistically, I can play as many snaps as they let me,” he said. “I could play the entire game if the coaches allow me to. I don’t feel like I’m going to hurt myself or the team. I feel like I can go out there and make plays.”
If Phillips sounds overeager, it’s because he is. Six games (and seven weeks, including the bye) on the shelf was agony, especially because it included watching the Giants stumble without him in losses to the Steelers and Bengals the past two games after a 6-2 start.
“I don’t want to say ‘dead,’ but it’s like we weren’t having fun out there the last few weeks,” he said.
Sitting for six games wasn’t an entirely maddening experience for Phillips, however. He said Friday the NFL rescinded his $30,000 fine for a hit on Tampa Bay’s Vincent Jackson in Week 2 after Phillips provided the league with photo evidence it was a clean play.
It was a rare victory for Phillips with the league’s enforcers, who he said warned him last season another fine-worthy hit would also earn him a suspension.
But Phillips is vowing to let it fly just like he always has tomorrow night.
“I’m looking forward to getting back out there and having fun,” he said.