Thunder and Lightning return to Giants
Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw of the New York Giants celebrate. (Dec. 6, 2009) Credit: Getty Images
Winter has arrived, if not cosmologically then certainly on the airport tarmacs of America, as the Giants have learned the hard way.
More importantly, the season has arrived in the outdoor football stadiums of America, which makes what happened in the cozy great indoors of Ford Field Monday especially encouraging.
The Giants' regular-season success will be decided in three games in the open air in cold-weather cities, beginning Sunday at home before visits to Green Bay and suburban Washington, D.C.
Traditionally, the trail to such late-season success is blazed on the ground, in which case the Giants' running game is peaking at precisely the right time.
Monday it produced 219 yards on a mere 25 carries from Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw, effectively erasing an off night for quarterback Eli Manning.
The biggest play of the game was Jacobs' 73-yard run in the second quarter, which jump-started what had been a sluggish attack.
The second biggest was Bradshaw's 48-yard scoring run in the third, which essentially put the game on ice (if you'll pardon the expression).
"We love to run the ball, and I think that's what our offense is made of," Jacobs said. "We have a line that wants to run the ball, and that's what we do best.
"When we get that going, it's going to be awfully hard to beat us."
With David Diehl back at left tackle, the Giants targeted the right side of the Vikings defense, which yielded even with extra tacklers close to the line. Once the backs got through, they were gone.
"It's a good thing we did have the run," coach Tom Coughlin said afterward. "We've had the run the last couple of weeks in terms of lots of numbers, both backs sharing in the load."
The backs have shared it all season, but the bottom line has improved since Jacobs reclaimed the starting role three games ago.
He has run for 87, 103 and 116 yards in the three games - averaging 8.5 yard per carry - with three touchdowns. Bradshaw has run for 49, 97 and 103, and also has three TDs.
For the season, Bradshaw has 230 rushes for 1,116 yards, Jacobs 114 for 693. Both have eight rushing touchdowns.
Could it be that a lighter early workload is translating into a fresher Jacobs down the stretch? Probably so.
Bradshaw looks pretty frisky, too, come to think of it.
"I think Ahmad is much better off than he was a year ago,"' Coughlin said, "and I think that also holds true for Brandon."
Jacobs has come a long way since Week 2, when he tossed his helmet in frustration and it landed in the stands in Indianapolis.
Now he is 264 pounds of positive energy. Monday night his long run seemed to ignite not only the offense but the defense.
"Because I run so funny I think our defense gets a kick out of me running and gets excited," he said. "It's not often you see a 260-odd-pound man running down the sideline who's hard to catch."
It was a welcome sight for the Giants on a warm, dry carpet in Detroit. Now Jacobs must try to carry his mates into the cold, hard reality of a late-December playoff run.
