EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Arizona Cardinals safety Tyrann Mathieu was glad to be back on a football field Sunday, but he would have preferred to play a few more snaps.

It's been nine months and almost a week since Mathieu tore his ACL and LCL, and depending on who you ask Sunday's return was either ahead of or behind schedule. Regardless, Mathieu took the field for four snaps. That wasn't enough, he said.

"I was expecting to play a little but more," Mathieu said. "It didn't work out that way. We were playing great on defense. Gave up a few plays but, yeah, I was expecting to play more going into the game."

Mathieu said he wasn't put in a situation to make a play or test his knee. He said he covered a tight end on one play and was on the back end of a blitz on another.

On his first play, safety Rashad Johnson came on a blitz and recorded his first career sack.

Mathieu was listed as probable heading into the New York Giants game, but his status wasn't certain. He spent the defensive plays he wasn't participating in standing on the sideline with his helmet on, usually a few feet away from either defensive coordinator Todd Bowles or coach Bruce Arians.

Arians said it's nice to have Mathieu back, but he didn't watch him play much Sunday.

"The bit he played I was probably doing something else," Arians said. "We'll watch the tape. His role will increase each week now that he's back at it."

Mathieu will have another opportunity to test his knee next Sunday at home against the San Francisco 49ers before Arizona heads into its bye week.

"I wasn't really put in a position where I had to see if my knee was back to where it was," Mathieu said. "So, hopefully in the next couple weeks I can build some confidence by doing more things, hopefully getting put in situations here I have to use quickness and my instincts."