Coughlin confident on Phillips' return

Tom Coughlin said exactly what he should have said today when asked about Kenny Phillips' injury, noting that he is absolutely convinced that the second-year safety will be a third-year safety and a fourth-year safety and so on.

"What we have done is in the best interest of the player and the New York Giants because we feel like this young man has an outstanding future," Coughlin said.

Coughlin's supposed to be optimistic. So are the Giants. I hope Phillips is just as optimistic. They're in the business of believing things can happen when others say they can't. If you can beat the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII, who's to say Kenny Phillips can't be a Pro Bowler in 2010? Like Justin Tuck says all the time when he's asked if the Giants can handle some situation or stop some offensive player or win some big game. "Of course I think that."

Coughlin said the team doctors were just as surprised by the news that Phillips' season would end this quickly as Phillips apparently was.

"The term was, 'we could manage it.'  And he was all for it.  You saw his camp, he had a great camp," Coughlin said. "They knew what it was, sure. They knew what they were dealing with, yes. Because they did all of the tests. But did I know that coming in? No."

So to quote Coughlin on other things: We'll see. Nobody is rooting against a Kenny Phillips recovery (with the possible exceptions of Tony Romo and Jason Campbell, though they have their own issues to be worrying about). Still, every time I mention this patellofemoral arthritis to a doctor, he or she cringes.

I'll leave you with this. I went to see a rheumatologist today for something I'm dealing with and as I was leaving his office I asked him, just out of curiosity, what he would say to a 22-year-old football player who came to him with palleofemoral arthritis. He just shook his head.

"I'd say I hope he has his college degree," he said.



(newsday.com)