Ware taking advantage of rare opportunity

The Giants have always seen something in D.J. Ware. They just never could know it for sure.

This is his fifth full season on the team, an incredible stretch considering that he rarely has been used in games. He's returned some kickoffs and filled in for Brandon Jacobs or Ahmad Bradshaw in the backfield from time to time, but for the most part, Ware has spent his Giants career waiting.

Until these last three games, that is. That's when Ware has stepped in for Bradshaw (foot) and played an important role in the offense. He not only has taken some of the workload off Jacobs, he's become the team's third-down back. He's also the player most likely to be in the backfield when the Giants go with three wide receivers.

In other words, he's been on the field a lot. And for the first time in his career, that has given the Giants' coaches a chance to see what they actually have in him. They're still evaluating him, and getting to watch him on the field is helpful.

"I think to be fair, a guy has to get X amount of time before you can say, 'Hey, that's where he's at and that's who he is,' " offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride said this past week. "Even then, particularly if it's a first-year guy or a second-year guy, you'd like to see incremental improvement as time goes on. The problem is with [Ware], it's his [sixth] year in the league, so you're judging him as if he's a [sixth-] year guy and I don't know if that's fair or not, but that's what happens.

"But he's done a good job for us. He's filled in nicely."

In the previous two games, Ware ran for 57 yards on 16 carries and caught five passes for 34 yards. Last night against the Eagles, he was hit hard by Cullen Jenkins late in the second quarter, and suffered a concussion that knocked him out of the game.

Ware's role in the offense shows up in more than just stats.

"He's done a nice job for us with scan principle with a lot of our protection, where you don't just have a person, you have a guy, then you have to kind of clean up wherever the blitzer shows up," Gilbride said. "He has not made any mistakes in that respect. So it allows you to be a little bit more sophisticated in some of your route-running because you can change up your protection a little bit. He's done a good job with that. When we've called on him to run the ball, he's done a pretty good job with it."

Ware's extensive playing time soon could come to an end. Bradshaw said he expects to play next Monday against the Saints, but even if he has to wait another week beyond that, the Giants expect him to be back on the field for the stretch run. When that happens, Ware likely will go back to the bench and his limited role.

Then again, now that he's showing the Giants what he is capable of, they might be more inclined to incorporate him into the game plan even if Bradshaw and Jacobs are available.

"He's a productive guy," Tom Coughlin said. "The ability to play with more energy and when you need him in that clutch period, he has that extra gear."

Prince plays.Rookie cornerback Prince Amukamara made his NFL debut Sunday night, playing in his first professional game of any kind. That includes preseason, when most rookies first size up the level of NFL play and the speed of the game. So far, so good, as Amukamara made a first-quarter interception.

He missed out on that during the summer. After signing in early August, he practiced only one full session before breaking a bone in his foot the next day. That injury and the surgery that corrected it sidelined him until last month, and he's spent the last few weeks working his way into the defense both physically and mentally.

"He's moving a lot better. He's not running with a limp like before," Giants safety Deon Grant said this past week. "He's breaking a lot of scar tissue . . . as far as the scabs and all of that when it comes to plants and reading routes. Physically, but also catching on to the defense and the 'welcome to this NFL' thing."