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Riotmaker
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: South Burlington, Vermont
Posts: 5,717
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Time To Shine Rook!
Quote:
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – It has become a popular question in the Giants’ locker room this week as inquiring media minds want to know: why will the outcome of Sunday’s NFC Divisional Playoff Game be different than the first two Giants-Dallas Cowboys meetings this season?
RB Ahmad Bradshaw figures to get some carries this Sunday against the Cowboys.
Ahmad Bradshaw might have provided the day’s most accurate answer.
“Hopefully,” said the rookie running back, “because I’ll be out there.”
He might be right. Bradshaw played a big role in each of the Giants’ last two victories, Dec. 23 at Buffalo and last Sunday in a Wild Card victory at Tampa Bay. He is largely an unknown commodity to the Cowboys. Bradshaw did not touch the ball from scrimmage in the Giants’ two regular season losses to Dallas, though he did return 11 kickoffs.
But he is the most important new element in the offense since the teams’ last meeting on Nov. 11.
“Hopefully, I can help the team out a whole lot more,” Bradshaw said. “Every time I touch the ball, I’m going to try to make a play. So that’s what I’m going to try to do.”
The Giants seemed to have hit on a successful formula for their running game late in the season. They let 265-pound Brandon Jacobs pound the defense for about three quarters. Then they send in the 5-9, 198-pound Bradshaw, who can use his quickness and elusiveness to work his way through the worn-out defenders.
It worked in Buffalo, where Bradshaw ran for all of his game-high 151 yards – including an 88-yard touchdown – in the second half. After missing the regular season finale against New England with a leg injury, Bradshaw reprised the closer role at Tampa Bay. He had the Giants’ last 13 rushing attempts of the game, all in the fourth quarter, to help the team close out a 24-14 victory.
It was not lost on anyone that Tom Coughlin entrusted the ball to a rookie in the crucial final moments of a playoff game, particularly the young man holding it.
“It showed they had more trust in me than they had in the beginning of the year,” Bradshaw said. “Toward the middle of the year, I felt they could trust me a little bit more. It also showed me I was learning and I’m getting a little smarter, just in the fact that they’re putting me out there at the end of the game.
“It feels great knowing I’m a big part of this offense – it’s put a lot of confidence in my game. Their trust to put me out there at that moment has given me trust in my game and making me a whole lot more comfortable.”
The Cowboys’ rushing attack has been powered all season by the 1-2 punch of starter Julius Jones and backup Marion Barber, who led the team with 975 yards and 10 touchdowns and was selected to the Pro Bowl. Now the Giants can counter with a tough tandem of their own and each back has a distinct approach that can hurt a defense.
“(Bradshaw) has given us a good opportunity to change the style and to have good balance in what we are doing in terms of being able to bring him in whatever capacity we choose,” Coughlin said. “He finished the game the other day and shows you the grit, the determination, and the power that he has. It has been a nice opportunity for us to balance out between the two backs.”
“Ahmad has done a great job for us and he has a different look,” quarterback Eli Manning said. “He gives us that quicker back and a little bit of a slasher and just gets some quickness in there. We have done some things, we move him around, and have thrown him the ball some, but he is just a different type of back than Brandon. Brandon has done a great job, so it is good to have two different styles and two different guys who come in there and just give you a break and switch up the look a little bit.”
Bradshaw would have preferred to make an impact earlier in the season, but his football career has taught him good things come if he remains patient. At Graham High School in Bluefield, Va., Bradshaw had to wait behind his cousin and a friend who happened to be the head coach’s son before he got serious playing time. Once he did, Bradshaw rushed for 4,839 yards and 58 touchdowns in his final two seasons.
As a freshman at Marshall University, Bradshaw was an understudy to Earl Charles, one of the finest running backs in school history. But he rushed for 997 yards as a sophomore and 1,523 yards and 19 touchdowns as a junior before making himself eligible for the NFL Draft. The Giants chose him on the seventh round, the 250th overall selection. When he arrived here Bradshaw found…another wait. Jacobs, Reuben Droughns and Derrick Ward were all in front of him on the depth chart. But Bradshaw again turned it into a positive.
“My time wasn’t when I wanted it to be,” Bradshaw said. “But I was patient. That’s happened to me every year. I look at it as a plus for me. This year I looked at it as plus to be behind these guys, who are all great guys. I looked at it as a chance to get better and learn it from the best. I’m learning from a lot of these veteran guys who have given me a lot of input on the game. That’s what Brandon and D. Ward and Reuben have done for me. They’ve helped me out a whole lot. I’ve taken a lot of coaching this year. They’ve helped me all year. To finally get it to use it is a conclusion to all this.”
Bradshaw uses his time wisely when he’s standing on the sideline early in the game.
“When Brandon is in there all I do is scout the defense and see how they’re playing different runs and what they’re bringing pass protection-wise,” Bradshaw said. “All I can do is get smarter with Brandon in there. He does a great job keeping everything straight forward and running hard. I get in there with a different style of running. I’ve tried to scout the cutback lanes and train my eyes for that when I step in the game.”
Jacobs will take as many carries as the coaches will give him, but he is not blind to the benefits of having Bradshaw finish off a game.
“I think Ahmad is a very young, talented guy,” Jacobs said. “This is his rookie year - the guy is only going to get better. He is going to learn a little bit more every year. I think it is a plus to us as an offense for him to come on late in the game and wear people down because they have spent two and one-half quarters tackling me. So I think it is most definitely to our advantage for him to come in and be quick and jittery like he is.”
Bradshaw has become one of the most obvious contributors on what is an outstanding rookie class. Every one of the Giants’ eight 2008 draft choices played and helped the team at Tampa Bay.
“We’re all close, so it’s even better,” Bradshaw said. “I think we feel a whole lot more comfortable on the field.”
Ahmad Bradshaw certainly does.
NOTES
*Dallas Pro Bowl wide receiver Terrell Owens didn’t practice today because of the high ankle sprain he suffered at Carolina on Dec. 22. Owens did not play in the season finale at Washington, and Dallas had a bye last week.
Cowboys Coach Wade Phillips has said Owens’ availability for Sunday’s game might be determined close to game time, but the Giants aren’t buying it.
“He will play,” Coughlin said. “There is no doubt in my mind he will play.”
“He’s going to play,” defensive end Justin Tuck said. “I don’t see him not playing. T.O. is the type of guy, if they allowed him, he would go out with a crutch in his hand. I’m expecting him to be a hundred percent.”
Giants receiver Plaxico Burress, who has played with an ankle injury all season, was asked if he had any advice for Owens. “Don’t play,” Burress said.
*Center Shaun O’Hara, who missed the Tampa Bay game with a knee injury suffered vs. New England, practiced on a limited basis. But it is unknown if he will play against Dallas.
Four Giants did not practice: Burress, cornerback Kevin Dockery (hip flexor), cornerback Sam Madison (stomach) and tackle Kareem McKenzie (ankle).
McKenzie was injured early in the Tampa Bay game but never came out.
“I think he will work tomorrow,” Coughlin said.
Madison was injured against the Patriots and did not play last week.
“Sam looks a little better, to be honest with you,” Coughlin said. “He feels a little better, moving better.”
*Coughlin was asked why the Giants denied the Atlanta Falcons’ request to interview defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo for their head coaching position until after their season ends.
“Well, because in our opinion and it is Steve’s as well, this is not the time,” Coughlin said. “Steve’s focus and concentration, as it should be, is right on this game, just like we all are. He and I spoke about this and he is the guy that brought it up first, ‘I don’t want to be distracted at this point in time with anything.’”
*The Giants signed offensive lineman Brandon Torrey of Howard University to their practice squad.
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http://admin.giants.com/news/eisen/s...story_id=26536
Who needs Jamaal Charles we got Ahmad Bradshaw! This rookie suprised me, a twerp but a very tiki-esque runner except more of an explosive first step, I love it. Thunder and Lightining.
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Time To Shine Rook!
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