NFL

Giants’ Thomas marks comeback with weekly award

After the Giants beat the Eagles 15-7, coach Tom Coughlin presented cornerback Terrell Thomas with game ball and said, “Welcome back, Terrell.’’

As it turns out, Coughlin wasn’t the only one to recognize Thomas’ performance. On Wednesday, he was named NFC Defensive Player of the Week.

It is a giant leap forward in Thomas’ remarkable comeback as he returns from two surgeries in one year to repair torn ACLs in his right knee. Thomas first tore his right ACL in college at USC, and all the wear and tear on the knee threatened to wipe out his NFL career.

Thomas had 11 tackles (10 solo) to go along with a sack and a forced fumble on rookie quarterback Matt Barkley with the Eagles on the Giants 2-yard line. Linebacker Jacquian Williams scooping up the loose ball before it rolled out of bounds.

This is not a common occurrence. Thomas is only the fifth Giants cornerback to be named NFC Defensive Player of the Week and the first since 2008, when Aaron Ross won it. The others were Phillippi Sparks (1998), Jason Sehorn (1997) and Everson Walls (1990).

Thomas missed the entire 2011 and 2012 seasons coming off the knee surgeries, and the Giants have been smart with his latest comeback, picking and choosing when he practices and plays. He was on the field for all 61 defensive snaps against the Eagles. In the first game against the Eagles, Thomas played only one defensive snap as the Giants decided to keep him fresh for the Thursday night game in Chicago four days later.

“It’s good,’’ Thomas said. “I think [senior vice president of medical services] Ronnie Barnes is doing a great job managing me along with the coaching staff allowing me to rest during the week and at the same time taking a game off here and there. I’m about 13 months post-surgery. The rest of the season should be good for me. I’m at a turning point with my knee, kind of getting my legs out from underneath me, knowing what to expect week in and week out.

“It’s always sore and I’m still coming off a knee injury, but it’s definitely feeling better and I’m able to play a lot more to my old self. Sometimes the knee gets stiff during a game from the wear and tear, but I’m feeling good.’’

At the start of the season, the Giants did not know what they could get out of Thomas. Now he’s emerged as a major part of the plan moving into the second half.

“We’re very pleased with his progress,” cornerbacks coach Peter Giunta said. “We wanted to bring him along very slowly and gradually, we were hoping to get a few plays a game out of him. He’s been a great bonus for us defensively. He’s getting to the point now where he’s starting to get his timing back and feeling more comfortable. He’s been close, but he just hasn’t made the plays that he had made in the past. He’s made tackles, he’s been close. The timing and the confidence and everything is starting to come back.

“You’re starting to see the old Terrell. Certainly he’s not back to where he was, but he’s very, very close to where he was before his injury.”