Blackburn: Scrapper back from scrap heap

For four months, Chase Blackburn agonized.

The linebacker's cell phone wasn't buzzing with inquiries from NFL executives the way he had hoped it would, leaving him wondering if he'd ever get the chance to play on Sundays again.

Although he served as the Giants' special-teams captain in 2010, they elected not to re-sign Blackburn. He was out of a job. But he remained in contact with some of his former teammates, who did what they could to encourage him as he began readying to serve as a substitute teacher at a middle school in his native Marysville, Ohio.

Blackburn, 28, was preparing for reality, figuring it might be time to start thinking about life after football much sooner than he had thought it would be necessary.

"I talked to quite a few guys," he said. "They texted me the whole time, telling me to keep my head up. 'You deserve to be somewhere, we know you've got years left in you' and all that."

Finally, hours after the Giants lost to the Saints on Nov. 28, that call Blackburn had been longing for came. It was assistant general manager Kevin Abrams.

"He asked if I was in shape," Blackburn recalled. "I said, 'Yeah.' And he said, 'Pack your bags.' The next flight [out] was like two hours away."

Now -- two months after being out of the league -- he's about to play in Sunday's Super Bowl against the Patriots after cementing himself as a starter at middle linebacker.

"Eight weeks ago, when I wasn't playing, it was not really a thought of mine that I'm going to be in the Super Bowl this year," Blackburn said. "But fortunately, God put me on a team like this that has the great reserve and character that's in this locker room, and put things together for us."

Injuries paved the way for Blackburn's return. When rookie linebacker Mark Herzlich sprained his ankle during the Giants' loss in New Orleans, and with the team already a little thin at the position after Jonathan Goff's torn ACL suffered before the season opener, Blackburn got his chance. He's started five of six games, totaling 26 tackles, and had an interception in his first game back Dec. 4, a pick of Aaron Rodgers that he nearly returned for a touchdown.

Then, in the Giants' NFC divisional playoff win over the Packers two weeks ago, Blackburn's fourth-quarter fumble recovery and 40-yard return to Green Bay's 4-yard line set up Eli Manning's touchdown toss to Mario Manningham for a a 30-13 lead.

"He's always going to be around the football," defensive tackle Chris Canty said. "He's hard-nosed, he'll stick his face in there. Just his overall mentality is the mentality that everybody on this football team should strive to have . . . If you don't pay attention to football, then you don't understand his value. But we in this locker room, we understand his value."

That value includes stability at the position.

"We were trying to plug guys in there. You take young guys like Greg Jones -- they're young," safety Deon Grant said. "They didn't have the proper training for this season.

"With the loss of Goff, and Chase being here last year and him being a true 'Mike' linebacker, it allowed us to leave Mike Boley on the outside to play his true position, leave Kiwi [Mathias Kiwanuka] on the outside playing his true position, and leave myself on the back end with whatever I need to do to fill in."

Can Blackburn return for an eighth season with the Giants?

"Can't worry about that right now," he said. "That'll take care of itself. Only thing I'm thinking about is this game and doing everything I can to help this team win."