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Giants News | New York Giants – Giants.com

Notebook: Tyre Phillips grateful to be back with Giants

TYRE-PHILLIPS

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Ten days ago, Tyre Phillips was relaxing in a hot tub in the Philadelphia Eagles' complex in South Philadelphia when he received a phone call from his agent.

"He said, 'Hey, bro, the Giants, they want to get you back,'" Phillips said this week. "I said, 'Heck yeah, let me know how it goes. You call me, you see how serious it is. I'm up in here getting my body right for practice with the Eagles.'"

Actually, he was getting it right for the Giants. Five days after getting that call, Phillips started at right tackle and played all 68 offensive snaps in the Giants' 14-7 victory against the Washington Commanders. Evan Neal is questionable with an ankle injury, so Phillips might find himself in the same position Sunday when the Giants host the Jets.

"It's been a whirlwind," Phillips said. "I can't compare that to nothing, nothing at all, that I've ever done in football. I take it as a blessing, just the true preparation of staying ready so you don't have to get ready. Obviously, it was a blessing to be able to have (training) camp here. I kind of knew some of the plays as far as just the generic operation of the offense, but there were some new things I had to learn.

"It's a blessing that the organization had enough confidence in me and knew that I was going to go out there and use my ability and do my job with high expectations and confidence with the guys next to me as well."

The guy directly to his left was right guard Mark Glowinski.

"I love where he's at," Glowinski said. "I love that he had the ability to work with those guys on the line (in Philadelphia). The Eagles have a great offensive line, so for him to be able to take some of those things and build on what he did in camp and translate that, I think he did a really great job. I think he came back a better player, because he had the ability to learn some things that were able to translate from working behind or side-by-side with those guys. It was great for him to be able to just come, glad that it was a drive right up the road for him. That makes it easy."

Phillips never wanted to leave. He joined the Giants as a waiver wire pickup just prior to the 2022 season, after spending his first two NFL seasons with the Baltimore Ravens. Last year, Phillips played in 12 regular-season games with five starts, four at right tackle and one on the left side. When training camp began, he was a contender for the Giants' backup tackle job. But a quad injury forced him to miss numerous practices and Phillips was waived first from the active roster and then the practice squad, transactions that didn't surprise him.

"In the NFL, they say your best ability is availability and during camp, I can't lie, I was hurt," Phillips said. "I wasn't available, so guys were surpassing me while I was rehabbing and recovering. There was nothing I could say. It was just one of the things. I just had to stay the course of what I had going on."

View photos of the Giants on the practice field ahead of the Week 8 matchup against the New York Jets.

Phillips joined the Eagles' practice squad on Sept. 4 and for six weeks he was taught by renowned line coach Jeff Stoutland and a group of linemen that features three players – Jason Kelce, Lane Johnson and Landon Dickerson - with a combined 11 Pro Bowl selections.

"He's a crazy coach," Philips said. "He's different, but he means well. He's going to the office wanting to coach everybody. It didn't matter if it was Jason Kelce or Lane Johnson or me on the practice squad. He coached everybody hard and that was the reason why he woke up, to coach football."

Phillips was aware the Giants' tackles had incurred injuries but didn't permit himself to think that might lead to a return to northern New jersey.

"I always try to teach myself just to be where my feet are," he said. "If the opportunity was gonna come, even if it was with the Eagles or anybody else, if I was ready physically, I knew I could come in and I knew I was going to take the time to study the playbook and do what I've got to do for Sunday. But no, I had no clue."

As soon as the deal was finalized, he drove here to sign his contract. The next day he was on the Giants' practice field.

"The locker room welcomed me back with ease," he said. "Everybody was happy to see me because I had a personality here. I was happy to see the guys' smiling faces. Obviously, there's a relationship when you're out there in camp, bleed sweat and tears, you have good days, sad days and in those times you build a bond and a relationship that you can't get nowhere else. When I came back it was like, 'Oh Tyre, what's up, man? I'm happy to see you, too.' It was like I never left."

Phillips was emotional before the game last Sunday.

"You know how the head coach of the Eagles (Nick Sirianni), how he was for the Super Bowl (weeping during the national anthem)?" Phillips said. "I think I shed a tear or two. It was so surreal, just that moment of knowing I'm going to go out here and compete, just knowing the hard work I did through those six weeks. It was an emotional moment, knowing I'm gonna to go out here and gonna play with my brothers and do it to the best of my abilities in and out.

"Six Sundays, I'd been watching, sitting on my couch because obviously with the Eagles P-squad, I didn't travel. And we had only two home games when I was there. So, it felt good just to be in that arena, hearing the whole atmosphere. It was a great feeling."

One he might well savor again on Sunday.

*Brian Daboll announced this morning that quarterback Daniel Jones will not play for the third consecutive game because of the neck injury he suffered Oct. 8 in Miami. Tyrod Taylor will again play quarterback for the Giants.

*Running back Gary Brightwell (hamstring) has also been declared out.

*Left tackle Andrew Thomas is listed as doubtful. If he is inactive, Thomas will miss his seventh consecutive game since injuring his hamstring on Sept. 10 against Dallas.

Five players are questionable: center John Michael Schmitz (shoulder), tackle Evan Neal (ankle), cornerback Adoree' Jackson (neck), tight end Darren Waller (hamstring), and linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux (knee). They were all limited in practice, as was Jones and wide receiver Wan'Dale Robinson (knee). Schmitz was inactive the previous three games, and Neal and Jackson did not play last week against the Commanders.

View rare photos from the local rivalry between the Giants and Jets.

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