New York Giants Official Website

 Second Half Expectations
  By Michael Eisen, Giants.com

NOVEMBER 19, 2009

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ - Brandon Jacobs is certain the best is yet to come for the Giants, the team's rushing attack and his personal statistics.

Of course, all those entities are intertwined. Jacobs is the key to the team's run game, which will be vital to the Giants' fortunes in the final seven games of the season, beginning Sunday at home against the Atlanta Falcons. Both teams are 5-4 and the Giants, who are coming off their bye, will try to end a four-game losing streak.

Asked today what he expects from himself in the stretch run, Jacobs said, "Clutch - very, very, very clutch."

The Giants' next six games are outdoors in cold-weather areas - four at home and night games in Denver and Washington (though the forecast for Sunday is sunny with temperatures in the mid-50s). It's the time of year and the kind of weather when a back like Jacobs can play a huge role.

"That's what you're hoping," offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride said. "I think historically as you start to go into this time of year, the big backs become more and more effective. I don't have anything to back that up, but it seems the bigger backs take off at this time of year. The little guys are a little bit more beat up and it's a little bit harder for them to hold on. I think this is the time of year that he should shine."

Jacobs is 12th in the NFL with 617 rushing yards, but he will be the first to say he's not satisfied with his performance. He has 151 carries compared to the 153 he had after nine games a year ago. But he has 189 fewer yards than he had at this point last season. His 4.1-yard average is down significantly from the 5.3-yard mark he had entering the 10th game in 2008. Jacobs has yet to run for 100 yards in a game (his season-best is 92 yards at both Tampa Bay and Kansas City). Last year, he had four, including two in a row in the eighth and ninth games.

"I feel like the first half wasn't that great," Jacobs said. "I felt like I got into the thick of it the last three or four weeks. It definitely isn't what I want it to be at this point. I wish I could do a little bit more. But it is what it is. I go out and I work hard and I play hard and I take what they give me."

One reason for Jacobs' reduced numbers is that the Giants are more equitable in their distribution of carries among their top two backs. Last year through nine games, Ward had 89 carries for 490 yards (on his way to 1,025). This season, No. 2 back Ahmad Bradshaw has 103 attempts for 515 yards.

And with Danny Ware healthy and ready to get more snaps on third downs, the rushing attempts could be spread further.

"We have a lot of guys who are capable," Jacobs said. "Ahmad has been doing a really good job for us, Danny is going to come in for the second half of the season and will do a really good job. I don't really care as long as we win and guys are getting hooked up."

Jacobs has shown signs that he's ready to break out. He averaged 3.6 yards though his first 100 carries during the Giants' 5-0 start. In the last four games he has 51 rushing attempts for 262 yards, a 5.1-yard average. Jacobs averaged 6.1 yards a carry (67 yards on 11 attempts) in the 21-20 loss to San Diego prior to the bye.

"We have been averaging close to five yards a carry over the last month or so," Jacobs said. "Things change in the football game where you have to do something different and that's what happens. I think Coach Gilbride has done a great job all year long of calling plays and getting us into things that we need to be in. We can go out there and run and it's up to us to execute."

Last week, running backs coach Jerald Ingram suggested that without Ward (who is now with Tampa Bay) and Ware (who didn't carry the ball until the Chargers game because of an elbow injury) Jacobs has been asked to fill roles he's not entirely comfortable with. But Gilbride believes that is not a reason behind Jacobs' decreased production.

"Did we ask him to be the third down back more? Yes," Gilbride said. "But that was really more for protection purposes. The runs haven't changed and some of his best runs have been from that personnel grouping. I just think he is running better. He has done a good job. He is being physical, he is being more confident, he is trusting himself a little bit more.

"I just thought he was trying so hard to be perfect that it was actually affecting him in a negative way. He is having a little success now. So you get into that cycle of success where you think 'I feel good,' and you trust your first initial read and bang it up there and maybe capitalize and take advantage of his greatest strengths, which are his speed, his power and his toughness. I think that more than anything else."

On Sunday, the Giants will face a Falcons team that is 25th in total defense and 26th against the run, allowing an average of 130.3 yards per game on the ground.

Jacobs is eager to lead the team out of its slump and retake his rightful place as one of the NFL's most productive running backs. It's his time of year.

"I love when you are playing the game in the outdoors with those elements," he said. "It makes it good for us, because we can step our game up knowing that our team is going to need us in order to win the game, to move the ball. I like putting everything on my back."

*For the first time this season, all 53 players on the roster practiced today.

"It felt pretty good to have everybody out there working," head coach Tom Coughlin said. "That was a good sign. We have enough room on the field to accommodate that, yeah."

Because of his foot and ankle issues, Bradshaw has missed most Thursday practices this season. But he was out there today, though he and Aaron Ross were limited.

"I know that he was anxious," Coughlin said. "And that is probably the only work he will get. Hopefully he will get a little tomorrow. But he did some today. That was good."

The only other player on the injury report is Eli Manning (foot), who practiced fully.

NOTES

*Ross continues to progress and it appears more likely he will make his season debut vs. Atlanta after missing the first nine games with a hamstring injury.

"We are just going to go and watch him practice; let him put a few practices together," Coughlin said. "He does probably less than one- half (of the practice reps). But he works well when he is in there." 

*The Giants are 5-15 in post-bye games, though they won last year (a 44-6 rout of Seattle) and two of their last three. Tom Coughlin is 7-6 in games after a bye, including 2-3 with the Giants.

*The Giants will host their 13th annual food drive when they host the Falcons on Sunday. Fans are encouraged to bring canned or non- perishable food to Community FoodBank of New Jersey trucks parked at each entrance to the stadium. All collected food will be donated to the Community FoodBank of New Jersey, a division of America's Second Harvest, who will then distribute it to local food banks in the area.

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