Conversation With Kenny Phillips

The other day, Kenny Phillips appeared at Woodbury Commons for a Reebok event that featured their new ZigTech footwear line. Unfortunately I couldn’t make it to the event, but I was able to get an interview with KP after the event was over, I’m sure it was a long day for the Giants star safety and I greatly appreciate his time. What he had to tell me was quite intriguing.

First and foremost, his knee issues coming off of surgery.  KP confirmed that rehabilitation is an ongoing process for his specific condition, but it’s not something that he thinks about on game day.  He says his knee is 100% and is glad to be back on the field and making plays for the Giants.  Now, many people know that I’m a big proponent of alternative treatments for conditions such as KP’s and I’m glad I had the opportunity to ask him myself point blank — has he looked into treatments like Yoga for his condition? He laughed and said “Yeah, but I mean I can’t say that I do Yoga.” KP made it clear that injury treatments are openly shared amongst the players in the locker room, and when I mentioned Aaron Ross’ success with going off of the Giants proscribed treatment plan to include Yoga and massage therapy, Phillips was well aware of the situation but was unwilling to go further to explore the options fully with his situation.  Honestly, I think it’s a shame that Yoga has such a negative stereotype among professional athletes. Personally I think if there was one thing I could recommend to any athlete that would help extend their career and prevent injury, let alone help rehabilitate them, it would be Yoga.  Other Giants like Amani Toomer have done it with much success. But I digress.  The point is that KP is completely on top of his knee injury, feels great right now — and it doesn’t enter his mind in the slightest on game day. Great to hear.

Secondly, my questions about Antrel Rolle’s comments to WFAN earlier in the week didn’t go unanswered.  In fact, Phillips echoed Rolle’s statements about the reasons the Giants “came out flat”.  But KP was quick to suggest that the main reason the Giants appeared unprepared to face the Colts and their running game that amassed 160 yards on the ground was simply this:  “We thought they were going to throw the ball.”  And if you take another look at the tape, this simple answer explains everything about why the Giants approached last weeks game the way they did, from soup to nuts.  The Giants were completely unprepared, like they didn’t spend 5 minutes all week with the notion that the Colts would dare run the ball against the Giants. So when I pressed KP for the reasons why the team had trouble adjusting to the Colts game plan that involved over 35 carries for Joseph Addai and Donald Brown, he plainly stated “That I can’t answer.”  Clearly the message here is that Perry Fewell was certain Peyton Manning and the Colts were going to revert to their typical look on offense, he never dreamed he’d have to adjust his scheme. But it never happened… and the Giants were caught with their pants down and 6 defensive backs on the field for over 24 minutes of play in the first half that they couldn’t substitute out. And even when they could, they didn’t.

When I asked Phillips how the team is transitioning to Fewell’s leadership, he could only speak for himself but he said “You know we’re still getting to know each other.” I felt the tone of his voice indicated no sense of concern, but it was clear that the Giants defense has been under a major transitioning period from the departure of Steve Spagnuolo to the hiring and firing of Bill Sheridan, to Fewell’s hiring.  Sharing the spotlight with two other veteran safeties is something I’m sure Phillips never thought he’d see come to pass. “We’re just trying to get our best players on the field at once.”  No animosity, no drama. No further explanation needed after last season’s defensive collapse, either.

But after that miserable performance against the Colts I had to ask Phillips if the Giants could get back on track with stopping the run, particularly for the players in the secondary such as himself to be committed to stepping up in the box when they host the Titans and Chris Johnson this weekend.  “Absolutely.  Stopping the run is going to continue to be a priority and I’m confident even after last week that we can stop the run with our defensive backs. I’m confident we can step up and make some big run stops out of the secondary.”

They’re absolutely going to need to Sunday afternoon.