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. "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."
Bradshaw, from Bluefield in Southwest Virginia, 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 practices only one day.
When he shows up on game day, though, he's a different player. The pain is blocked out and he bites his lip and runs at, around and through defenses.
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 junkyard dog that wants to fight on game day," running backs coach Jerald Ingram said. "He doesn't care. There was a linebacker who said to him: `Why do you run so mean? Why are you so mad?
Ingram remembers Bradshaw's answer.
" 'Because I am mad at you,' " Ingram recalled. "That's just Ahmad. He loves his toughs."
"He wants to win," Giants guard Chris Snee said. "He is a winner.
Bradshaw said he has been bothered by his feet since his freshman year at Marshall University.
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.
Fellow running back Brandon Jacobs knows the scatback who runs like a big man will be ready on game day.
"He wants to come out here and give you all he's got," Jacobs said. "If he has it in him, you are going to get it from him. I look up to him. He is an inspiration to me to see how he plays. Once his adrenaline is pumping, he feels no pain."
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