Kenny Phillips unhappy with how knee rehab went

It has been nine long weeks since Kenny Phillips first suffered an MCL injury and he never imagined his right knee would still be a problem. And it’s not just bad luck or chronic knee issues, either.

Phillips said he’s still hurting because “When we started our rehab we didn’t go about it the right way.”

The Giants’ safety wouldn’t get into specifics, nor did he place blame on any one person, but he seemed clearly unhappy about the way his injury has been handled since he first got hurt in a Week 4 game in Philadelphia. He missed the next six games plus the bye week before returning last Sunday night against the Green Bay Packers.

Then he hurt his knee again.

“Yeah, it sucks,” Phillips said. “It’s real frustrating. It seems like it’s always something. But I’ve been able to play through it. This is probably the most I’ve been able to play. I’m trying to bounce back from it. It felt OK. I’m getting better each day.”

Phillips, who was limited in practice on Friday, is pressing to play again on Monday night in Washington and hopes to remain in the lineup the rest of the season. But he’s clearly still hurting and said it’ll likely be that way until the offseason when he can rest.

He had plenty of time to rest before last Sunday night, though, so he definitely didn’t feel like he rushed back onto the field. But something about the way he went about his rehab just didn’t seem to work out.

“When we started our rehab we didn’t go about it the right way, and now here we are, we’re dealing with it right now,” Phillips said. “I don’t want to get into (specifics). It just didn’t work out the way we wanted it to.

Asked if he was angry, Phillips said “I mean, I wouldn’t say I’m mad about it. It is what it is. No one’s perfect. I just think we both felt that something needed to change. We needed to change up the rehab. We just felt like we weren’t doing the right things. 

“So we just switched up and it immediately starting feeling better. So I’m here now. I’m not worried about the games that I missed.”

Phillips said his current injury is “kind of pretty much the same thing” as his previous injury, it just “never was completely how it’s supposed to have been -- I’ll just say it like that. It’s obviously not as serious as the left knee injury he suffered in 2009 which led to career-threatening surgery. He insisted he won’t need any surgery this time.

What he needs is what he can’t have. “The biggest thing is going to be rest,” he said, “and I don’t have time for that right now.”

He added that team doctors have told him “it’s either ‘Don’t play’ or ‘You’ve got to play through some pain.’ I’m just dealing with that right now.”


(nydailynews.com)