With the weather supposed to be bitterly cold on Sunday in Green Bay for the NFC Championship Game, expect the visiting Giants to rely heavily on their running game.
Brandon Jacobs should get the majority of the carries for New York against a Green Bay front seven that allowed 102.9 rushing yards per game in the regular season.
Jacobs, one of the NFL’s biggest tailbacks at 6-4, 264, is a huge, powerful back who is effective attacking downhill, between the tackles. He is a battering ram.
Injuries to a knee in September and a hamstring in November kept him out of most of six games. He still finished with 1,009 yards. Only two of the NFL’s 17 1,000-yard rushers had higher averages per carry (5.0 yards) and per game (91.7 yards) than Jacobs.
Jacobs averaged 103 yards rushing during the Giants' last four regular-season games, and he runs with a mean streak. After scoring the go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter Sunday against the favored Cowboys, he fired the football off the play clock at Texas Stadium.
"If he doesn't kill somebody or himself, he'll have a great career," says Frank Gifford, the Giants' Hall of Fame running back from the 1950s and 1960s. "He beats up on linebackers and defensive backs. He's amazingly agile for his size."
Jacobs rushed for 54 yards on 14 carries against Dallas. In the playoff opener against Tampa Bay, he rushed 13 times for 34 yards with a rushing and receiving TD, but he was hampered by cramps. That’s when unheralded backup RB Ahmad Bradshaw truly emerged as change-of-pace runner to complement Jacobs.Bradshaw, a rookie seventh-round pick from Marshall, gained 66 yards against Tampa on 17 carries, basically taking over in the second half with Jacobs limited.
Against Dallas he only carried the ball six times but averaged 5.7 yards per carry.
The duo have "complemented each other very well," Giants coach Tom Coughlin. "The two of them create some problems for the defense.“ The interesting thing is both of them can do a lot of things. Jacobs can catch the ball, Bradshaw can run inside. Obviously Jacobs can run inside. They both can do a little bit of hat the other guy does" so you are not restricted in any way in terms of play-calling."
"Defenses spend two-and-a-half quarters tackling me, and they are kind of worn down," Jacobs said. "Then comes Ahmad, who is this quick, jittery guy. He looks short and stocky, and maybe the defensive guys think they can stand there and he'll run into them. But he won't do that."
Actually, Bradshaw made his first splash in a Week 16 victory against the Buffalo Bills, when he scored on an 88-yard touchdown run.
"Bradshaw has really given them a spark," says Merril Hoge, the former Pittsburgh Steelers
The Giants might finally have found the power-speed tandem they were looking for, says Phil Simms, the former Giants quarterback who is CBS' lead game analyst.
"I don't know if there's a system to it, or if it's all about feel, but it's working very well," Simms says about the Giants' two-back approach.
Bet on the NFC Championship Game at WagerWeb.com fullback who is an analyst for ESPN. "He's been the difference in their running game during this last stretch."
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