Arthritic knee ends season for Giants' Phillips
Photo credit: Newsday / David L. Pokress | Giants rookie safety Kenny Phillips during training camp at the University at Albany.
Galleries
Sept. 21: Giants 33, Cowboys 31
Kenny Phillips knew his knee injury would linger through the season. He just wasn't prepared for the season to be so short.
"It never crossed my mind, ever," the Giants' second-year safety said Thursday after being placed on injured reserve. "I knew the situation. I just felt I could push it through the season. So to get this news is a real shock."
Phillips was diagnosed with patellofemoral arthritis in his left knee when pain and swelling began to appear at the end of this training camp, but an MRI on Wednesday revealed that the condition has worsened.
While Phillips considers treatment options, including microfracture surgery, the condition certainly will linger throughout his career and might even cut it short. Patellofemoral arthritis occurs from a loss of cartilage on the back of the kneecap or in the groove that houses the kneecap at the bottom of the femur.
"The most important thing for us right now is to realize it's an emotional time for Kenny Phillips," Tom Coughlin said Thursday. "This morning he looked like he'd lost his best friend. He's really down."
The Giants were awarded safety Aaron Rouse off waivers from the Packers. Rouse, a third-round pick by the Packers in 2007, was waived this week.
C.C. Brown will step into Phillips' starting role and Rouse will back him up Sunday against the Buccaneers. They'll have a big role to fill. Phillips had the best game of his career with two interceptions and several key tackles against the Cowboys last Sunday.
"I worked hard this offseason and I felt like this was going to be a big year not only for me but for the Giants," Phillips said. "I started the season off pretty well with a few tackles, interceptions, and for it to just get snatched away from me like this is real tough."
"He played the deep ball, really, unlike anybody we've had around here," Coughlin said. "We were very excited about what we thought could be a Pro Bowl year for our free safety."
Phillips' season may have ended, but the Giants still have 14 more regular-season games to play without him.
"You have to move on," Antonio Pierce said. "It's no difference if Antonio Pierce, Justin Tuck or Osi [Umenyiora] is out. The next guy has to step up. Like I said, we always feel like we have 25 starters on this defense, and whoever wants to step in for Kenny, if he is out, that's what they have to do."
Defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan said it shouldn't be a problem to get Rouse up to speed on the Giants' defense, even though he arrived at the complex just yesterday.
"You're not going to ask them to come in and play the whole game," Sheridan said. "There is so much carry-over from team to team and the kind of defenses that are played. I mean, everybody plays two deep and three deep and man coverage and that type of stuff. So yeah, you can get them up to snuff very quickly."
Phillips said his knee started hurting him late in camp. "It's hard to say exactly when," he said. "Everybody gets nicks and bruises in training camp, so that's just what I thought it was. Swelling occurred, but most people get swelling."
Phillips and the Giants had said they would have to monitor and "maintain" the condition. That meant practicing once a week and then playing in the games, as he did the past two weeks. As recently as Wednesday, Phillips said his knee felt fine and there were no setbacks off the Cowboys game.
"For the most part, I was able to do the things that I am used to doing," Phillips said. "I had a little bit of restriction from time to time, but that was something that I was going to play with, I learned to play with."
Now the Giants must learn to play without Phillips, one of their brightest young defensive stars.
