Kenny Phillips' thorough season not as productive

In some ways, 2010 was a remarkable season for Kenny Phillips, one of the biggest question marks heading into the year. Coming off major knee surgery that many figured would be career-altering if not career-threatening, Phillips made it all the way through, playing 16 games at safety for the Giants.

"It's a blessing to get through the season healthy, especially when there were people saying I wasn't going to play football again," Phillips said on Monday while he was cleaning out his locker. "I thought it was a big achievement."

But the player who earned the nickname Superman for his sideline-to-sideline plays and showing up in the nick of time had very few red-cape moments this season. He had a career-high 77 tackles - which is to be expected since this was his first full year as a starter - but he had only one interception, which is half the number he had in two games in 2009. He also had just five passes defensed.

Phillips said that downturn in production had less to do with his knee - which he said gave him little to no trouble during the season - than his head. After a year away from football, Phillips found he was unable to rely on instinct and intuition as much as he had in the past.

"Just seeing the big picture, that takes time," Phillips said. "As far as seeing things and certain things that you're used to seeing, it was almost kind of new to me in the beginning. I was locked in on one side instead of being able to see the whole field. Just small things like that, that was the difference.

"I'm used to seeing routes and that was slow to come along for the most part," he added.

Still, many will remember Phillips' season not for missed opportunities but for strength and perseverance. He was named the team's Ed Block Courage Award winner, as voted by teammates.

"I know what it took for him and I'm extremely impressed," fellow safety Antrel Rolle said of Phillips' comeback. "It was a lot of hard work, more than any one of us can really put our hands on. That's a very serious surgery to overcome and to play the amount of plays he played and be in the game as much as he was in, it took a lot of effort. It took a lot of heart."

And now, for the first time since his rehab began following surgery last September, Phillips can rest. He said he plans on giving his knee some time off before focusing on 2011. Conventional wisdom is that it's the second season after knee surgery when a player regains his form, and Phillips wants that to be the case.

Did he even get back to feeling like Superman in 2010? "I thought I was something, I don't know," he said. "Sometimes I did, sometimes I didn't."
Will Superman return in 2011? "I hope so."

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(newsday.com)