Fumbles do not define Ahmad Bradshaw
By TOM BONE
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
— Do a couple of fumbles define a football career? Not in the case of Ahmad Bradshaw.
The New York Giants rookie, from Bluefield, Va., has overcome a shaky start in the NFL to lead his team in postseason rushing as they prepare for Sunday’s Super Bowl in Glendale, Ariz.
After being drafted No. 250 last spring, he had two fumbles as a kick returner in game two the 2007 season and his prospects looked dim. As the season progressed, though, he continued to work and learn. He has not fumbled since.
On Nov. 25, against the Minnesota Vikings, Bradshaw tied a Giants record for most kickoff returns in a game — eight. He also took his first four carries as a pro, gaining 29 yards.
Overall, in the regular season he averaged 8.3 yards per carry on 23 attempts, including the electrifying 88-yard touchdown against Buffalo on Dec. 23 that first brought him national notoriety and repeated ESPN highlight clips.
He gained 921 yards on 38 kickoff runbacks, an impressive 24.2 yards per return.
In the postseason, he’s carried 39 times for a team-best 163 yards, or 4.2 yards per carry. His 4-yard touchdown on Green Bay’s frozen turf in his last game showed again his determination and strength to go with his blinding speed.
That doesn’t include another flashy would-be touchdown run that would likely have won the game in the fourth quarter if not for a holding penalty.
As the Giants were driving late in the game, Bradshaw also demonstrated that he could keep his cool under championship pressure. He would not submit quietly to the NFL defenders’ practice of pinning the runner to the ground to let the clock tick away.
But instead of lashing out and costing his team a penalty, the rookie simply used his strength to push himself up and away — and get ready for his next play.
His coach, Tom Coughlin, was on television Monday night, talking about how Bradshaw “left the ball on the ground ... but he continued to learn.”
There is still room for this 21-year-old to learn, as there is for most of his former Marshall University classmates, who are still in their senior year in Huntington.
Bradshaw need not look far for examples to learn from, each of whom is a Marshall alumnus. Two will be in uniform on Sunday night.
One of them is very surprising — Randy Moss, former “bad guy” for his lack of effort at times and off-field run-ins while with the Minnesota Vikings and Oakland Raiders.
The 10-year pro from Rand, W.Va., has been a different guy with the New England Patriots. He’s now adopted a team-first attitude, even as he deals with a temporary restraining order won by a Florida woman.
Moss has 23 touchdowns this year for the perfect Patriots, with 98 catches for 1,493 yards, a 15.2 average.
Another is Troy Brown, a Patriot wide receiver now in his 15th pro year.
He will be remembered not for Hall-of-Fame receiving stats. But he was willing to do whatever was needed to help the Patriots win, including switching to a starting role at defensive back a couple of years ago when that position was thin due to injury.
Then there’s Chad Pennington, who plays for that “other” New York team, the Jets. Despite several season-ending injuries and calls by the rabid media to toss him to the curb, the former Marshall quarterback has endured with grace.
He quietly rehabs and prepares to compete in yet another season for a starting job.
A former Giant, Concord University assistant coach Tracy Gravely, says that Bradshaw is succeeding not for himself, but for his community.
A former teammate, Chase Elswick, may have said it best. “Anything you want in life, you’ve got to work hard for it, and he sure has,” Elswick said about Bradshaw last week at Graham High School.
One thing’s for sure — we’ll all be watching this work in progress on Sunday.
Tom Bone is a sports writer and editorial cartoonist for the Daily Telegraph. Contact him at tbone@bdtonline.com.
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