Bradshaw has outrun his past

After watching for most of the season, Ahmad Bradshaw has thrived in the playoffs, gaining 163 yards with a TD and complementing bruising teammate Brandon Jacobs. (Bill Kostroun/Associated Press)

CHANDLER, Ariz. - He knew he probably wasn't going to be a mid-round pick last year, even though his numbers justified it. Ahmad Bradshaw had rushed for nearly 3,000 yards and more than 30 touchdowns in three years at Marshall, but it was the two arrests that stood out on his résumé.

One, for underage drinking and resisting arrest, happened before Bradshaw enrolled at Virginia. The other, for petty larceny, occurred at Marshall after his sophomore season.

In a year when Pacman Jones would be suspended for the season and the Bengals had more guys turn up on police blotters than in the Pro Bowl, character loomed large. "I always knew that there was a chance I would get drafted late," says the Giants rookie running back, "just because of my background."

But bottom of the seventh round, 250th out of 255? It was the rap sheet. "Commissioner [Roger] Goodell, he was really being tough with off-field conduct stuff, so that teams backed off Ahmad," says general manager Jerry Reese. "The two incidents he had, it wasn't awful stuff with him."

The Giants, who were looking for a change-of-pace back, saw a bargain about to be tossed on the rummage table. "He was just sticking out on the board," recalls Reese. So they made a few background calls, did a little more homework on Bradshaw, and grabbed him. "We said, 'Let's take a chance on this guy; we could hit it big with this kid,' " says Reese. "And obviously, it has paid off thus far."

After watching from the bench most of the season, Bradshaw has blossomed in the playoffs, gaining 163 yards and scoring a touchdown as the yang to Brandon Jacobs's yin. Now he's one game from a Super Bowl ring. "It's a blessing," Bradshaw realizes.

Merely getting drafted was a blessing, he says, after his brushes with the law. The first arrest got Bradshaw booted off the team by UVA coach Al Groh, who dropped him like a greased pigskin.

"It was surprising that he let me go, but it was school rules and he was just following his job," says Bradshaw. "It just made me stronger, to have to go to Marshall and walk on for a semester and prove myself there. I've had to prove myself my whole life."

His prodigious work with the Thundering Herd figured to get Bradshaw taken in the third or fourth round, until he got caught with a PlayStation 2 taken from another student's unlocked dorm room and got two years' probation. "It was a misunderstanding and a mistake on my behalf," he admits, but it was enough to sour every club in the NFL on him. Except one.

"The Giants knew my background," says Bradshaw. "We had talked about it during the Combine, the mishaps I'd had, and they considered it, took a long thought about it. When they picked me in the draft, they called and said, 'We're going to put everything behind us; you're here to play football in New York.' And that's what I was ready to do - put everything behind me, accept what I've done, and just move forward."

His professional apprenticeship was humbling, with two early kick-return fumbles. "When you do that, [coach] Tom Coughlin will put you on the bench and let you think about it for a while," says Reese. "And he had to do that, he had to think about it for a while."

It was 11 weeks before Bradshaw was allowed to carry the ball. Not that the Giants doubted he could. "I knew right away Ahmad was a good runner," says offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride. "The thing was, could he learn the other aspects of the game to take advantage of his running skills? Could he learn protection? Could he learn the audible system? Will he be able to pick up the things that you're required to do besides just running the ball? It was just a matter of time."

When Derrick Ward went down for the season, Bradshaw got his chance to step up and scored his first touchdown on an 88-yard dash in the snow against Buffalo, the third-longest rushing TD in club history. "We always knew he was good, we just had to get him ready," says Jacobs. "We couldn't just throw him in there. We think he is ready to play now."

With Jacobs and Bradshaw in rotation, New York's running game has become deeper and more diverse. "We're totally different," says Jacobs. "He's real quick and runs hard and low to the ground. I get in there and I'm a one-cut guy. Teams have to make that change. I go in and pound them and pound them, then he goes in with a lot of quickness."

It's a combination the Patriots didn't have to deal with in their regular-season finale, which Bradshaw missed with a calf injury, but they've seen enough on film to know what they'll be facing Sunday.

"Bill [Belichick] loves him," says linebacker Mike Vrabel. "He shows film of him - he gets his helmet knocked off and runs through three guys and Bill says, 'That's a pretty good 6-yard run.' "

Bradshaw has become the guy the Giants hoped they were drafting, and so far, his citizenship has been beyond reproach. "Ahmad was very much aware that he would have to prove himself in a lot of different areas, not only on the field, but off the field," says Coughlin. "He's responded very well. He wants to prove, every time he's on the field, the quality of player he is."

On draft day, Reese declared that the Giants would be keeping Bradshaw on a "short leash." Now he's earned enough slack to run all the way to the desert, where a most unlikely ring is within his grasp. "It's just an opportunity people don't have every day," acknowledges Bradshaw. "You've just got to take advantage of it."

John Powers can be reached at jpowers@globe.com.