He entered at the start of the second quarter, after Big Bad Ben Roethlisberger had driven the Steelers to the Big Blue 25. He moved fluidly — except when he accidentally bumped Keith Bulluck running forward at the end of a play on which Antrel Rolle spilled Rashard Mendenhall for a seven-yard loss — even if he didn’t make one of his eye-popping, breathtaking plays.
But on a night the Big Blue starters kept Big Ben (three series) out of the end zone, when Ahmad (Crazy Legs) Bradshaw (9-yard TD run) looked like a young Tiki Barber, when Justin Tuck looked like a young Jon Randle, when Osi Umenyiora looked like a young Osi Umenyiora, when Rhett Bomar looked like a No. 3 quarterback, albeit a tough one, when Hakeem Nicks lost his cool and was ejected for engaging in a mindless punchout four plays into the game with Steelers cornerback Ike Taylor, when Aaron Ross (45-yard punt return) looked like an explosive kicking game weapon, it was Kenny Phillips’ return that held the most meaning for the Giants, 24-17 losers to the Steelers.
He was in for only six plays, on a night the starters played only a quarter and a half. Six plays that moved him six steps closer to the starting lineup — and quite possibly as soon as the regular-season opener against the Panthers.
“It felt good, it really felt normal,” Phillips said.
“It’s like riding a bicycle, you really never forget how to do it. I didn’t get a chance to make too many plays, but in the little time I was out there, everything felt great.”
Even if the Steelers wouldn’t cooperate.
“He just said every time he made the call, the play went away from him … he was trying to make the call where it would come to him,” GM Jerry Reese said, and chuckled.
Reese’s trained eyes were glued to Phillips, and liked what they saw.
“Our trainers are very happy — there’s no swelling, there’s no pain, so that’s a good report for us,” Reese said.
Only 11 months ago, he was Superman in a blue cape, flying from one side of the field to the other to torment quarterbacks, or intimidate wide receivers, running backs and tight ends. Big Blue’s Sean Taylor.
Last night, in the Giants’ first game at their new stadium, he was The Comeback Kid.
“To see him out there running around puts a smile on my face,” Reese said.
Kenny Phillips may never turn out to be Superman, and if that’s the hand he’s been dealt, well, that’s OK for now.
Because this is a young man who was forced to stare his football mortality in the face, and he refused to blink.
The jury isn’t out yet on whether the patellofemoral arthritis that required microfracture surgery on his left knee will prove to be career-threatening. But slowly but surely, the verdict looks more promising.
Reese was asked if it is unrealistic to expect Phillips to start alongside Rolle.
“No, it’s not unrealistic,” Reese said. “We expect him to continue to progress and not have any setbacks, and hopefully we can put him in there with our first group.”
On Opening Day?
“On Opening Day.”
The last time Phillips donned his No. 21 jersey against another team was last Sept. 21, when Jerry Jones welcomed George W. Bush, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and LeBron James to the opening of his new palace, and all Phillips did was intercept two Tony Romo passes, one off TE Jason Witten’s heel, in a 33-31 Giants victory over the Cowboys.
Three days later, his world, and his team’s world, were turned upside down.
His season was over.
There was speculation his young career may have been over. He never believed it.
He watched helplessly as his team floundered and eventually collapsed at the end, and it hurt so bad. He couldn’t run … hell, he couldn’t walk without a limp for a long, long time.
“I felt like a fish out of water,” Phillips said recently.
When he was finished with his brief night’s work, he stood alongside Rolle and fellow safety Deon Grant, and smiled an awful lot.
One of Kenny Phillips’ many tattoos reads “Destined To Be Great.”
So maybe, just maybe, he still is.