Rock: Coughlin wants Giants' Bradshaw to get a grip

Tom Coughlin loves Ahmad Bradshaw. But he might have to show him some tough love very soon.

The Giants have missed out on 14 points in the last two games because of Bradshaw's fumbles, each coming at a time when he was within lunging distance of the end zone. Against the Titans, he coughed it up on a run while striving for extra yardage. Sunday against the Bears, he was stripped from behind by Chicago cornerback Zackary Bowman on what was shaping up to be a 36-yard touchdown run.

The two plays have left Coughlin grinding his teeth.

"Every week, I'm assured, 'Don't worry, Coach,' " Coughlin said. "But the thing that happens is you get in the game, you become more instinctive, and occasionally the bad habits come roaring out. If it was something where the player has absolutely had enough, when that takes place, then I think we'll get what we want."

What the Giants want is for Bradshaw to keep the ball tucked away on his runs. "High and tight" is the way Coughlin coaches it. Though there was some concern about the state of Bradshaw's ankle, which he injured in the Bears game and had a medical test on Tuesday, the larger hand-wringing and head-scratching has to do with Bradshaw's grip.

In four games he's lost three fumbles, on pace for 12 this season. If that happens, it would be the most ever by a Giants running back and twice the number of turnovers that another notorious fumbler had during his most butterfingered stretches. Tiki Barber, who had 35 fumbles from 2000 through 2003, never put it on the ground more than nine times a year and never lost more than six in any of those slippery seasons.

But then, Coughlin did "cure" Barber of his fumbling. In the months before the 2004 season, the new coach of the Giants insisted that the running back carry the football properly everywhere he went.

"He spent a whole offseason doing it," Coughlin said. "Every conditioning session, everything that was done outside, even in the weight room, he would carry the ball around. It's not the most comfortable place to be. It's not."

Barber fumbled only nine times in his final three seasons beginning in 2004, and lost only four of them.

Sunday's fumble came as Bradshaw peeked at the video board to see where the defensive pressure was coming from. Coughlin said that Jerald Ingram coaches his running backs to do that, to use the live feed as a rearview mirror. But Coughlin said he would rather the players act as if there are 11 defenders reaching for the ball at any given moment.

"I tell them you're in traffic all the time," Coughlin said. "Get the ball under your chin and get the elbow tucked in where it's supposed to be.

"Obviously," Coughlin sighed, "I'm not doing real well with my style."

In his first year as a starter, Bradshaw is putting up impressive numbers. He has 382 rushing yards (fifth best in the NFL) and is averaging 5.2 yards per carry. He also leads the league with six runs of 20 or more yards. He was named NFC offensive player of the week for his 129-yard performance over the Bears. But it's those turnovers that bother Coughlin.

"I've stood up here and said it before: I love the kid," Coughlin said. "He's a great, great effort guy. Everything he's got he pours into it, and there's not one person who would question it with this guy. However, that aspect takes away from it. You just hope that they learn."