Giants want to hit the ground running

Finishing last in the NFL in rushing, as the Giants did this season, has possibilities. It could be a prelude of good things to come. At least that is the way it happened the last time the Giants finished last in the running game.

That was 1953, and not wanting to go through that again, the team decided it had to do something dramatic. The Giants made a major change in philosophy for 1954 and hired an assistant coach to overhaul the moribund offense: Vince Lombardi. That move would change the course of the league, introducing a man who would become so accomplished that the Super Bowl trophy now bears his name.

The current Giants do not believe they need to do anything so drastic. In fact, they believe they can make a run at the Lombardi Trophy, and they don't see the word "run" as a contradiction in terms.

"We're not satisfied, but I definitely feel like we're progressing," said offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride, who sees the glass as half-full after watching the Giants gain at least 100 yards in four of their final five regular-season games.

Teammates look at running backs Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs and see two accomplished veterans with Super Bowl rings, not two guys who struggled as the Giants averaged only 89.2 yards a game and 3.5 yards a carry.

"When they're healthy, they're pretty strong back there," wide receiver Hakeem Nicks said. "I feel like they're one of the best running back [combinations] in the NFL. They've been around for a while; they get the job done."

Said Jacobs: "I have confidence in our running game, having been there before in the postseason. It can be a little better, but the final month of the season, we definitely ran the ball a lot better than the beginning of the season and even the middle of the season, to be honest with you. I don't see why we can't run the ball like that."

What the Giants do not have is a ready explanation why those two backs had such a rough go through most of 2011.

Of course, each was injured -- Bradshaw missed four consecutive weeks with a foot injury, a stretch in which the team went 1-3. The offensive line had its inconsistencies, too.

The team also doesn't have a set mantra about what helped the running game become respectable, if not outstanding, in the past month.

"No change," Bradshaw said when he was asked about that development. "I just feel we're getting better, we're coming together. We're calling the same plays, I don't see any change in that. I think we're just running the ball better right now because we're coming together."

Gilbride also was asked how the switch got turned on, at least part of the way. "I wish we had the magic answer," he said. "I think it's just that the runners are doing a better job of staying inside and hitting the holes the way they should. It really started with Mitch [Petrus] at left guard and Kevin Boothe [at center]. Now that David is back, it has continued. I don't know what galvanized it or sparked it, but something got it going.

"We made a commitment going into the Green Bay game; we wanted to run the ball a little bit more effectively. We were going to see if that would help us control some of their pass-rushers and we had some success," Gilbride said. "It carried over into Dallas and it has just been something we have been building on ever since."

Actually, the Giants made a commitment to running the ball several generations ago. When it ran into a brick wall, ownership decided to make big changes.

"The Giants of 1953 were not just bad. They were boring," Ernie Palladino wrote in the popular book "Lombardi and Landry," which was released during this season. The author explained how Lombardi's power sweep revived the offense and built the career of Frank Gifford.

Since then, running has been in the Giants' DNA: Mel Triplett, Alex Webster, Ron Johnson, Joe Morris, Rodney Hampton, Tiki Barber.

Jacobs and Bradshaw both fit neatly into the template of that tradition during Super Bowl XLII. Bradshaw, a rookie, gained 45 yards in that stunning victory over New England, the most by any running back in the game. He also recovered a fumble by Eli Manning. Jacobs made what Giants officials believe was the key play -- or at least the unheralded key play -- when he put a block on Rodney Harrison, allowing Manning to complete the winning touchdown pass to Plaxico Burress with 35 seconds left.

So Jacobs has credibility when he says of the playoffs, as he did after practice the other day, "This is another season."

That is good news for him and the fellow in the next locker stall. The two running backs, like their team, had ups and downs in 2011.

Until recently, Jacobs' signature moment of the season might have been the comment he made in November about Giants fans: "The best thing they do here is boo." Bradshaw made news when, with the year on the line, he committed a curfew violation that got him suspended for the first half of the pivotal game at Dallas.

On the other hand, the Giants probably would not be in the playoffs if the two backs had not come up big. Other players believe they got a palpable lift when Bradshaw returned for the game against the Packers. And at Dallas, Jacobs made up for Bradshaw's absence with a strong performance, and he broke Barber's franchise record for career rushing TDs.

No matter what the season's statistics say, the twosome does pose a threat. "He makes a play happen, I want to do the same thing," Bradshaw said. (He also smiled excitedly when he was told that Sacramento Kings rookie standout Jimmer Fredette is a huge Giants fan and considers Bradshaw one of his favorite players.)

"We know they're tremendously talented," Boothe said. "It's our job to let them do what they have to do to get the job done. If we give them a little bit of room, they're going to make us look good. That's the goal."