Land of the Giants: Getting to know Aaron Rouse

by Ed Valentine on Sep 25, 2009 9:00 AM EDT in New York Giants News

With the news Thursday that our New York Giants have Kenny Phillips on Injured Reserve and received safety Aaron Rouse on waivers from Green Bay, I reached out to Brandon, our Packer blogger at Acme Packing Company, for thoughts on Rouse.

Here is what I got from Brandon who, interestingly, had written about Rouse Thursday morning.

My post on his release from this morning is a pretty good summary. My bottom line (don't know if the hyperlinks worked):

Most comments on his release have been negative. That was my first reaction too. But, as McCarthy said, this isn't a decision made after one game. After a good rookie season, he had some bad games last season in pass coverage and he took some bad angles to the ball. The disaster last season in New Orleans stands out in my mind. And 2008 wasn't a one-year fluke. The scouting report, when he came into the NFL, said he struggled in pass coverage.

I would add that his big problem is that he doesn't have great speed, in addition to taking bad angles, so he's a liability in deep coverage.

Brandon termed Rouse's last game as a Packer "a disaster."

Here is what the Green Bay Post Gazette wrote following Rouse's release.

The Packers clearly were deeply dissatisfied with Rouse’s play last week and thought it signaled a lack of development for a third-round pick from the 2007 draft.

Rouse also had a series of short-term injuries that had sidelined him, including an ankle and hamstring that kept him out of seven games during his first two seasons, and the hamstring injury in camp this year.

Against Cincinnati, Rouse made nine tackles but also had glaring errors on several key plays. Those included taking a bad angle on a screen pass to tight end Daniel Coates, who converted a first down on a crucial third-and-34; leaving his deep zone on a flea flicker that allowed a 44-yard pass to Chad Ochocinco; and being caught unaware when Chris Henry broke open behind him for a 5-yard touchdown pass.

So, Rouse is an "iffy" player, but probably the best talent available considering that the season is in full swing. He was a third-round draft, so he has talent. If he was on Phillips' level he would not have been available, would he? We just have to hope the Giants' coaching staff can get through to Rouse in ways the Packers seemed unable to.

If you guys don't want more bad news, stop reading now. Newsday's Tom Rock spoke to to an orthopedist about the patello-femoral arthritis in Phillips' knee. You are not going to want to read this.

"I would have rather them said he tore his ACL and his MCL," said Dr. Craig Levitz. "That’s a much better injury to have. We can fix that. If he tore his meniscus, we can fix that. Even if he tore his knee ligaments, we can fix those. It’s just a matter of how good he rehabs whether he gets back.

"Arthritis, we can't fix that," he said.

Levitz said that Yankees outfielder Hideki Matsui is suffering from the same situation. In that case they drain his knee regularly and inject him with cortisone shots every three months or so. With Phillips, that wouldn’t be an option. And Levitz said he doesn’t think surgery will help either.

"You can’t stop it from progressing, you just have to hope it doesn’t progress," he said. "Arthritis only goes in one direction. It only gets worse, it never gets better."

By strengthening the quadriceps and other muscles around the knee Phillips can help to support the joint and reduce the pain. But the arthritis will never go away without a knee replacement.

"The reason why they’re probably weighing their options is not because they don’t know what to do," Levitz said. "It’s because there are no good options and they are trying to pick the best option for him with no good option. There’s no option that will give him an extremely high chance of feeling a lot better."

That is not something I wanted to hear. If you are a Yankee fan and you have watched Matsui try to run this year you know it's not a pretty sight. Let's hope KP's best days aren't already behind him.

If you want an example of how unforgiving a league the NFL is, just check out Antonio Pierce's comments Thursday about Phillips. Mind you, these were made before the news broke that KP would miss the rest of the season.

"As long as we have eleven on the field, that’s all that matters," Pierce said. "You have to move on man. No difference if Antonio Pierce, Justin Tuck or Osi (Umenyiora) is out. Next guy has to step up. Like I said, we always feel like we have 25 starters on this defense and whoever wants to step in for Kenny, if he is out, that’s what they have to do."

Defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan pretty much echoed the same sentiments.

"You move on, there is nothing to dwell about, you are too busy getting ready for the next practice or the next game and getting the lineup set the way you need to. It’s always difficult but the way we perceive it is it’s just matter of fact, playing to the next and moving on," Sheridan said.

Sheridan spoke before the roster move with Rouse was announced, but said fitting a new player into the defense in just a couple of days should not be that difficult.

"there is so much carryover from team to team and the kind of defenses that are played. I mean everybody plays two deep and three deep and man coverage and that type of stuff. So yeah you can get them up to snuff very quickly."

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Comments

Dampens my enthusiasm

quite a bit, but it’s still encouraging to pluck a guy with his potential off the waiver. Some day i hope the Giants will get a “new breed” SS. Then again, they seem to be as rare as top shelf LOTs.

by blue gonz on Sep 25, 2009 9:09 AM EDT reply actions

One more time again:

Kenny Phillips destroys the life of Pittsburgh Steelers’ Mewelde Moore, setting the tone for the Giants’ awesome victory over the team that would go on to win the Superbowl (against another team we crushed):
Wait, that ran on too long, let me try again:

KP owns MM in 3… 2… 1…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yn6iA9uuZQ4

You play to win the game!

by Simms-McConkey on Sep 25, 2009 9:12 AM EDT reply actions

Double bad news

Thanks for breaking the KP news gently. Better we know the facts now and can be realistic about his future. An absolute shame for the young guy.

As for Rouse – well I bet he does not have much confidence after a poor display against the Bengals and then gets cut straight away. Hopefully we will not see him exposed against the Bucs in single coverage as they have a good passing game.

It seems odd that we are talking about are new safety who is bigger than one of our LB’s (Boley).

by G Fan in England on Sep 25, 2009 9:13 AM EDT reply actions

Argh!!!!

KP is one of our best players in the secondary (or will be soonish), and he gets injured. Justin Tuck is our best D-Lineman, and he is injured (minor, but it has to hinder his performance), our WRs are going down like bad-guys in a Clint Eastwood film and our DTs are all injured (well alot of them). Where is this massive, dominating, QB- decapitating, McNabb Shut-upering unit that I was hearing about in the pre-season???? In the PS we were all worried about an O-Lineman getting injured and happy with our outstanding depth in the D-Line, but so far all I have seen is an ineffective Defence and an Offence that continually has to bail out the team. I’m happy that were 2-0, but this can’t continue. Last season Tuck was worn down from continually taking double coverage and with our lineman problems this could be happening again, we all know how dissappointing the loss to the Eagles in the playoffs was, so I’m worried. O cannot score the kind of points that they have been scoring lately, if D doesn’t improve we may be beaten by (I shudder to consider it), the Cowgirls.
So as a general message to our players: if you are hurt, get up, dust yourself off and MAN UP!!!!! If you fail and get injured I will send Vick to your house to duck tape your cat ( see Simms-McConkey’s “

Michael Vick Relapses

” in the fanpost section.)

It would save the Giants Defence a lot of time if QBs just stayed down!

by ChuckyofNorris on Sep 25, 2009 9:32 AM EDT reply actions

patello-femoral arthritis?

Rub some dirt on it!

You play to win the game!

by Simms-McConkey on Sep 25, 2009 9:49 AM EDT up reply actions

chucky N

Let’s not overreact. You said so far all you’ve seen is an ineffective defense. That’s very short sighted. Last week the defense was not great, but not ineffective either, as we forced 4 turnovers, and won the game. And before that, we were all crowing about how our D looked superior outside of a fake FG and a late game soft D score. So calling them ineffective is jumping the gun quite a bit dontcha think?

As for the statement that our O can’t keep this up, well why not? We led the league in points scored per game most of last year, and this year were continuing the trend. We have a top 10 RB, and QB, a top 3 o-line, and as we’ve seen our wideouts are not the disaster that every “expert” predicted they’d be. And I haven’t even mentioned our best kept secret(Boss!). Our offense is no fluke, and I see no reason barring injuries why they can’t continue to be a top scoring O.

Step off the cliff folks. The nfc East champs are 2 for 2 in the wins category last I checked. Win ugly, win pretty. Win regardless.

by wilddre22 on Sep 25, 2009 10:32 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions

you're damn right

coming back down to earth a little bit could be a good thing. Nothing worse than fans who feel their team is somehow entitled to win. This’ll be a fighting year. I am changing my 16-0 prediction to 15-1.

You play to win the game!

by Simms-McConkey on Sep 25, 2009 10:40 AM EDT up reply actions

I agree with you wild

by G Fan in England on Sep 25, 2009 10:41 AM EDT up reply actions

I know..

But i’m entitled to a rant every now and then.

It would save the Giants Defence a lot of time if QBs just stayed down!

by ChuckyofNorris on Sep 25, 2009 7:48 PM EDT up reply actions

Say it aint so

Very informative piece Ed. This is horrible news and it seems to point at the fact that this truly is a career altering injury. I feel really bad for Kenny who has worked hard and earned his starting role.

GO NY GIANTS!!

by RobDomaine on Sep 25, 2009 9:42 AM EDT reply actions

Not counting chickens

But I believe we can be 6-1 going into the Eagles game.

Then it is a matter of how many more wins are needed to make the playoffs.

by G Fan in England on Sep 25, 2009 10:43 AM EDT reply actions

Kinda devasted

As bad as we seem to take this news think how Kenny must feel. This guy was on the verge of stardom and with a CB like Webster and our front 7 this D was poised to be possibly one of the greats. Well take a step back now, I’m not a religious type but my prayer’s are with your knee Kenny. The Giants still overall are a very strong team, but we can’t keep losing players to injury.

by wangstu13 on Sep 25, 2009 11:04 AM EDT reply actions

KP being out does hurt

but we have to remember C-Webb, Ross, Dock and T2 are there to help pick up the slack. Michael Johnson is an underrated player too so they should be able to help Rouse and CC Brown play decent centerfield.

This maybe a blessing for KP because he found the problem early and he can get it fixed instead of playing a few years on it and ending his career prematurely.

KP’s injury does expose Reese a bit here because he really prepared no depth at safety. This could be the biggest failure of the Reese era so far but I don’t believe that this is such a major loss that the team can’t reach the Super Bowl.

by Major on Sep 25, 2009 11:12 AM EDT reply actions

gotta give Reese a pass here

A little harsh dontcha think major? In Reese we trust shored up most of this team, adding much needed depth to the wideouts, d-line, QB, linebackers, and corners. At some point Reese was going to run out of bullets. Whether it was money, roster spots, whatever, even in Reese we trust can’t have every position going 2 strings deep.
Its not like he didn’t try, but the draft picks didn’t pan. And CC just hasn’t worked out. So now, MJ and CC and now rouse, and the corners will have to step there game up.

by wilddre22 on Sep 25, 2009 11:32 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions

I think it's a fair criticism

Phillips’ injury is a longstanding condition that the team should have been aware of. Similarly, CC Brown’s strengths and weaknesses were known — he’s been in the league a couple of years. The team made no attempt to address the safety depth issue in the draft and went into the season with only 3 safeties on the roster. They took a risk on Phillips’ health and it backfired. I think everybody likes draft picks Andre Brown, Barden, Bomar, and Beckum, but sometimes when you draft for the best player available and ignore needs, it can come back to bite you. We used four draft picks on players that probably won’t contribute much this year rather than trying to shore up depth at a thin position. Hopefully the team will find a competent replacement, but there’s no denying that we’re scrambling a bit because of the team’s personnel decisions.

I’m hopeful that when Dockery or Ross comes back that maybe Terrell Thomas can play some safety.

by Tucker Fredrickson on Sep 25, 2009 11:50 AM EDT up reply actions

+1

You can’t plan for this sort of thing, who could have predicted our standout saftey getting arthritis in his knee?

by catsmeat84 on Sep 25, 2009 11:50 AM EDT up reply actions

Don't get me wrong I like Resse and I think he's built great teams

and I know he tried I just think that CC Brown may not have been the best option and the lack of depth there has come back to bite us. Granted no one thought KP would be out the year but 3 safeties was just too light.

But Reese is great over all.

by Major on Sep 25, 2009 11:52 AM EDT up reply actions

not really a failure

you can’t have star depth everywhere… he chose the trenches, WRs, RBs… QBs…

a little short in starter-quality LBs and secondary. I guess that’s the next order of business

You play to win the game!

by Simms-McConkey on Sep 25, 2009 12:20 PM EDT up reply actions

2 years ago

the Rams cut a half back because they though he was not good enough, Reese picked him up right away, and the result was Madison Hedgecock…… Same in Denver, Shanahan cuts a kid who apperead to lost the desire to play and gets cut, the result. Hixon filling out in punt returns and every other game with good results. I hope this turns out the same in regards to Rouse

by Bajaserge on Sep 25, 2009 11:51 AM EDT reply actions

+1

It’s amazing what a new uniform and change of scenary can do for a player.

by njgiant on Sep 25, 2009 11:55 AM EDT up reply actions

The Giants are a top team so guys get amped up

Plus, I think we have among the best if not THE best position coaches in the league.

by Major on Sep 25, 2009 12:04 PM EDT up reply actions

Optimism

I’m going to try to remain optimistic that Rouse will flourish under the Giants system, that C.C. Brown will increase his potential whilst eliminating the penalties he draws, and that Kenny Phillips will find a way to overcome this condition and still be able to play football.

But I’ll tell ya, it’s hard. Losing Kenny is really though. He was one of my favorite players on the team—I thought he possessed the ability to become a premiere player. Whenever he was in the game he was making plays… Hearing the report from Tom makes it sound like Kenny already thinks he’s careers over. Quite a melancholy way to enter into the Tampa game…

by RolloT on Sep 25, 2009 12:04 PM EDT reply actions

optimism

KP gets a bionic knee like the $6 Million Dollar Man, comes back stronger and faster than ever.

You play to win the game!

by Simms-McConkey on Sep 25, 2009 12:26 PM EDT reply actions

I feel like a close friend of mine died

This is horrible. What do you all think about the Giants drafting Taylor Mays?

by mahmoodzaky on Sep 25, 2009 1:40 PM EDT reply actions

allan houston

this is the same injury houston had late in his career… everytime he tried to come back he couldnt because the pain and swelling always comes back… this is not good… im hoping KP case is different and he comes back healthy because i had very high hopes for this guy…

by bigblu on Sep 25, 2009 2:44 PM EDT reply actions

Can allan houston play safety?

He’s available…

I left my swagger in my other pants.

by HughG16 on Sep 25, 2009 3:59 PM EDT up reply actions

Its strange how fast this went down

This is a condition which slowly develops and only gets worse. I can’t imagine that the medical staff just figured this out. Yet we never heard about it until this week. We sure know he could play last sunday. Normally with a chronic condition like this you’d hear some kind of back and forth in the media about whether the player could or should play. Given how quickly they put him on IR, I think the doctors decided for his own good KP should shut it down.

I fear that Kenny may face a decision on whether to call it a career or try to play on it until he just can’t go anymore, running the risk of needing a new knee at age 30 instead of 40 or 50. A real tough break for the kid and ultimately a lot more important than wins and losses.

by roguetrader on Sep 25, 2009 3:52 PM EDT reply actions

KP

We’ve known since camp that KP had a lingering knee issue. The Giants have known what it was and simply did not make that public.

by Ed Valentine on Sep 25, 2009 6:04 PM EDT up reply actions

what about Ross as a cover corner...

seeing as Thomas seems to be a bit better of a corner…Ross has speed and we need a cover corner while Rouse can play running downs.

by nyGTrenches on Sep 25, 2009 3:54 PM EDT reply actions

I meant Ross can play cover safety

by nyGTrenches on Sep 25, 2009 3:55 PM EDT up reply actions

Ross has to play.

in order to see where he’s going to be used.

What the f$%k is the internet?

by FreeBradshaw on Sep 25, 2009 6:34 PM EDT up reply actions

bruce johnson looked pretty good vs the cowboys

His pick 6 was huge. Maybe as the season goes on he steps up into the starter spot.

by rich316 on Sep 25, 2009 8:40 PM EDT reply actions

can we not send KP to pasture just yet?

Mike francesa made a good point on his radio show the other day…its very dangerous to start talking or diagnosing ppl who we’ve never examined. Let’s take it easy on all this doomsday talk with Kenny. His seasons over. When he or the giants medical staff say different, that’s what I’m believing.

by wilddre22 on Sep 26, 2009 11:33 PM EDT via mobile reply actions