Giants' Bradshaw Feeling 'Great' After Rare Midweek Practice
INDIANAPOLIS (WFAN/AP) — Ahmad Bradshaw is playing in pain and loving every second of it.
The Giants running back has played the last eight games with a broken bone in his right foot, and there is no way the injury is going to keep him out of Sunday's Super Bowl against the Patriots.
"It's just the love of the game, man," he said Wednesday. "I don't like missing games for nothing. I have been fighting pain for a long time. No matter what it is I got that niche, man. I like pain."
The good news for the Giants is that he has had two weeks to rest for the Super Bowl rematch with the Patriots -- and his feet aren't feeling bad at this point. He said he has been able to get out of bed and not walk around in pain. And Wednesday he broke his recent trend and practiced on a limited basis.
Bradshaw hasn't put up big numbers this season, but statistics aren't what he brings to the offense. The fifth-year pro brings a toughness that teammates respect. His foot hurts so much during the week that he usually practices only one day -- Friday.
"I feel great," Bradshaw told reporters Thursday morning. "I had no setbacks yesterday."
Bradshaw is ready to hit the practice field again Thursday, and then possibly sit Friday instead.
"I think I'm ready to go today," he said. "I'll probably sit out tomorrow to get my feet back under me."
"We were pleased with the way he worked yesterday," said coach Tom Coughlin. "He does have the issue and there isn't any question about it, and how he comes back today will be something we're all concerned with."
When he shows up on game day, he's a different player. The pain is blocked out and he bites his lip and runs at, around and through defenses.
"The guy has an unbelievable threshold of pain," running backs coach Jerald Ingram said. "I've had a few guys that were very resilient but that guy has played with broken bones, cracked this, cracked that. His game is football. That's what he has been doing all his life. When he gets on the field, he is mean. He takes that pain."
This isn't the first time, either. Bradshaw played most of the 2009 season with two bad feet and had surgery three times after the season to insert screws in the fifth metatarsals of both feet and clean up some junk in his right ankle.
Bradshaw broke the fifth metatarsal in his right foot again against the Dolphins in late October.
He was X-rayed during the game, and returned despite the presence of a fracture.
That's Bradshaw.
"He is a junk yard dog that wants to fight on game day," Ingram said.
Do you think Bradshaw's new routine could backfire? Sound off below...
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