Glauber: Bradshaw must mature off the field

When D.J. Ware was announced as the starting running back in the Giants' preseason game Saturday night, the first reaction was: Really?

Granted, Brandon Jacobs was out with a neck injury, and the Giants wanted to get Ware significant playing time. But where was Ahmad Bradshaw, the starter for virtually every training camp practice and for the opener against the Jets?

As it turned out, there was a very good reason Ware started. Actually, it was a very disturbing reason: Bradshaw was benched for the opening series because he and safety Antrel Rolle had been late for a team meeting.

OK, so arriving late for one of Tom Coughlin's meetings, which begin five minutes early because he puts the building's clocks ahead, isn't the biggest news in the world. But being yanked from the starting lineup, even in a preseason game, elevates the infraction to a different level. The players and coaches see it, and so do the fans.

Bottom line: Even being late to a meeting takes on a new meaning because of your place in the lineup. No more is Bradshaw the cute and cuddly seventh-round pick who played the role of "Fire" in the "Earth, Wind and Fire" troika with Jacobs and Derrick Ward in the Giants' 2007 Super Bowl season.

This is more like: Hey, you've beaten out Jacobs for the job of feature back after recovering from offseason surgery on both feet. Now you'd better accept a leadership role and start acting the part. On and off the field.

Coughlin emphasized that Bradshaw needs to be held to a higher standard.

"Bradshaw has been in this program for a number of years, and he has matured and developed, and I think he recognizes without a doubt that [lateness] is not going to continue," Coughlin said. "Not if we're going to be the team we can be, and if he's going to have the kind of season he's going to have and develop a consistency and a reliability.

"Not only for me, but for the coaching staff and for his teammates. There's been good development, and I'm very confident it will continue."

Of Bradshaw's talent, there has never been any question. Coming out of Marshall, the 5-9, 198-pounder had all the speed, quickness and power you could want. Behavioral problems made him plummet to the bottom of the draft, where the Giants took a chance on him.

Bradshaw had two well-publicized incidents in college that made scouts pause: In 2004, he was arrested for underage drinking and resisting arrest, which led to his dismissal from Virginia's football team. In 2006, at Marshall, he was convicted of petty larceny for stealing a PlayStation from a dorm room and given two years' probation.

Bradshaw, who also had an undisclosed offense as a juvenile, served 30 days in jail after the 2007 season at Southwest Virginia Regional Jail in Abingdon, and another 30 days there after the next season. The stints stemmed from probation violations from the incident as a juvenile.

Being late to a meeting pales in comparison, but Coughlin wants to make sure he doesn't slip up in any way again. Bradshaw hasn't directly addressed the lateness, other than to suggest to a reporter after Saturday's game that he take it up with Coughlin.

But the coach will make it his business to ensure Bradshaw stays on the straight and narrow. After all, there's more to the NFL than just playing the games.

It's time Bradshaw realizes that how he conducts himself off the field is just as important as what happens on it. The feeling here is he'll make the most of the opportunity, and that the benching will remind him how much there is to lose if he messes it up.