FOXBORO, Mass. — The injury that knocked safety Adrian Phillips out of last week’s New England Patriots win proved to be nothing more than a scare.
Phillips tweaked his right knee while breaking up a pass on the penultimate defensive play of New England’s Monday night victory over the Buffalo Bills. Team trainers evaluated him both on the field and on the sideline but found no major damage.
“Everything checked out pretty well,” Phillips said before Tuesday’s Patriots practice. “At the time, I was like, ‘Oh, crap.’ I didn’t want to get hurt or anything like that, and you don’t know how severe the injury is or whatever it may be. But (now I’m) just talking it day by day, working with the training staff and going from there.”
Phillips bounced to his feet and celebrated after swatting down Josh Allen’s end-zone heave to tight end Dawson Knox, which came just before the two-minute warning. But before Buffalo could run its next play, he felt something.
“I just didn’t know what it was,” said Phillips, who remained down on the field for several minutes. “Any time it’s something around the lower extremities, you just kind of feel a little more — not to say panic, but you worry about it just a little more.”
The timing wasn’t ideal, either. With Kyle Dugger — one-third of the Patriots’ talented safety trio — sidelined after testing positive for COVID-19 earlier in the week, Phillips had played every defensive snap to that point, registering two key third-down pass breakups. The Patriots were forced to send in practice squad call-up Sean Davis for a pivotal fourth-and-14 with the game on the line.
“I’m like, ‘Dang, this is crunch time!’ ” Phillips said.
But the Patriots’ defense held. They sent Davis and Devin McCourty on a double safety blitz, and defensive back Myles Bryant broke up a pass to Gabriel Davis to seal a 14-10 win for New England.
Phillips tweeted “THANK YOU GOD!!” shortly after the game, but he said that message wasn’t related to his injury.
“I do that after every game,” he said. “If I’m able to theoretically walk off the field or if the game goes on without having any type of serious injury, whatever it may be, for both sides, I just always tweet that. That’s kind of my thing: just being thankful to play the game I love and make it through it, no matter what.”
The Patriots could choose to limit Phillips’ workload in practice this week, but the fact he spoke with reporters Tuesday suggests he should be available for Saturday night’s matchup with the Indianapolis Colts, barring a setback.
That’s a major relief for Bill Belichick’s club. Playing as a hybrid safety/linebacker, Phillips ranks second on the team in interceptions and third in tackles and is Pro Football Focus’s third-highest-graded safety.
New England, which is coming off its bye week, got Dugger back from the reserve/COVID list on Tuesday.
