“Adrian, is this the stuff of dreams to come back against your former team and have a day like this?”
Adrian Phillips paused before answering the reporter’s question. As a member of the New England Patriots, there’s an unspoken agreement to avoid saying anything too inflammatory to the media.
But Phillips had to admit: It felt pretty good to have a career game in Sunday’s win over the Los Angeles Chargers, the team that let him go in free agency.
“You know, uh.... yeah,” Phillips said with laugh, dropping the pretense of trying to avoid the question.
“I love it out here, every time that we get to play them,” Phillips continued. “Everyone wants to kind of stick it to their former team. This is a great organization that we played against today, just to be able to go out there and play against them and end up having the game that I had, it was sweet. I loved it. It was sweet.”
Phillips spent his first six seasons with the Chargers, three in San Diego and three in Los Angeles, making a Pro Bowl as a special teamer in 2018. But now in New England, he’s started to emerge as a playmaker on defense as a versatile defensive back who also spends time at linebacker.
Phillips showed his old team just how valuable he is by coming down with two interceptions, including a decisive pick-six in the fourth quarter. That’s on top of three tackles and QB hit.
But the pick-six remains the play of the game.
“You watch film the whole week and hope that you get the opportunity to execute the way you want to execute,” Phillips said. “So we got the call, I saw the formation and I had a few options that I could make and I just so happened to make the right option. We ended up getting pressure on Herbert, which was our big focus all day, just get pressure in his face. We made him make a quick decision and Cook wasn’t ready for it and I was able to take advantage of it and go to the endzone.”
Phillips’ pick-six was a sparkplug that allowed the Patriots to close the door on the Chargers in the fourth quarter. It happened when Justin Herbert fired to tight end Jared Cook under pressure. However, Cook wasn’t ready for the ball, allowing it to sail right to Phillips, who tumbled to the ground.
“I didn’t feel myself get touched,” Phillips said of the play. “We always tell them to make the refs make the decisions. So I just got up and ran. I knew when they didn’t blow the whistle that I was getting into the endzone.”
With the win, the Patriots improved to 4-4 on the season, putting them back in the Wild Card hunt as they look bounce back from a rough start to the season.
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November 01, 2021 at 07:59AM
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Adrian Phillips: It was ‘sweet’ getting back at former team after two picks in win vs. Chargers - MassLive.com
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