Giants running back Brandon Jacobs during Super Bowl XLVI Media...

Giants running back Brandon Jacobs during Super Bowl XLVI Media Day at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Jan. 31, 2012) Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.

INDIANAPOLIS -- This may be it for Brandon Jacobs in New York. Sunday's Super Bowl XLVI could very well be the last time Jacobs wears a Giants uniform, the final hoorah in his roller coaster seven-year run with the team.

In his heart, this is something Jacobs knows. He also knows there's nothing he can do about it, which is why he plans to walk out on top.

"If it is," Jacobs said, "I walk out with a Super Bowl ring. It definitely motivates me to go out with a bang."

Jacobs believes this team is both better and more confident than the one that beat the Patriots, 17-14, in Super Bowl XLII.

"We were just going out and playing in 2007," he said Tuesday. "We really didn't know what we know now. Now, we know that we can come out and do this. We worked super hard to get here, and we're going to try to finish this thing off."

The Giants likely wouldn't have gotten a Super Bowl ring four years ago if Jacobs hadn't come up with a clutch fourth-and-1 play on the final drive. Though David Tyree's helmet catch is the most-played highlight from that drive, what Jacobs did was equally as clutch. With 1:40 left and the Giants down 14-10, Jacobs took the handoff and went straight at an eight-man rush. He emerged with a 2-yard gain and a first down.

Much has changed in the four years since that game. The Giants have transformed into more of a passing team with Eli Manning and his receivers becoming the big stars of the offense. Jacobs, now 29, rushed for just 571 yards during the regular season, his lowest total since 2006.

Jacobs has proved himself to be a team player. He redid his contract in order to give fellow back Ahmad Bradshaw a raise in the preseason. He is scheduled to make $4.4 million in base salary next season, plus a $500,000 roster bonus in March. If they can't renegotiate to a more reasonable number for the Giants, it's unlikely he would return.

"You've just got to let it take care of itself," he said of his contract. "I'm playing in the Super Bowl for the New York Giants, and if that is the way it is, there's nothing I can do."

That prospect is something Bradshaw can barely bring himself to think about. "He's been here my whole career. I don't want to see him leave," Bradshaw said. "Hopefully, we can do this forever."

Nothing lasts forever. This is something that Jacobs, the older back, seems to understand, which may be why he has so many big plans for this game. When asked what the ideal ending to a game would be, Jacobs smiled and said he'd love to win it with an 80-yard run on the last play.

"And then I'd run right out of the tunnel," he said with a smile.

Out of the tunnel and toward his second Super Bowl ring.

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