Tiki Barber shared a backfield, a meeting room and locker room with Brandon Jacobs and Derrick Ward and of the many conversations they engaged in, Barber hoped one lesson sunk in more succinctly than any other.
“As I always told these guys when I was back there with ’em, your most important job is to be on the field,” Barber told The Post.
It was a lesson Barber learned exceeding well, as he evolved from a fairly injury-prone smallish running back into an astonishingly durable and powerful player who never, ever missed a game.
“When you are talking about when Tiki was here, he was never hurt, which was a great credit to him,” Tom Coughlin said yesterday.
There was a wistful tone in Coughlin’s voice and not because he misses those verbal shots from Barber since his retirement. The Giants head into Sunday’s game against the Vikings severely hurting at running back, where Brandon Jacobs (hamstring) is out and his backup, Derrick Ward, is trying to work through ankle and groin problems. If Ward can’t go, that leaves the Giants with veteran short-yardage specialist Reuben Droughns and rookie Ahmad Bradshaw.
“If Derrick plays, I think they stay OK,” Barber said. “If Derrick doesn’t, then Ahmad Bradshaw is going to have to start playing a significant role, he’s going to have to find a way to contribute. That’s kind of a crapshoot because of his inexperience. But it’s an opportunity for him.”
Barber pays close attention to his former team. As a studio analyst for NBC’s Football Night in America, every Sunday he’s assigned three games to watch and one of them always is the Giants. He’s more than an outside observer. He’s a fervent fan of the Giants in addition to being the franchise career leader in virtually every rushing category.
He also was always in the game. In his last five seasons, Barber played in all 80 games and set an NFL record by leading his team in rushing in every one of them. Jacobs in his first year as a starter is a bruising back who takes and receives punishment and is set to miss his fourth game.
“He’ll be great for a few years, but he’s going to have to find a way to stay healthy,” Barber said. “It’s the hardest thing in the world to do. I see what I expected of him. When he gets his shoulders downhill you can’t do anything with him as a defender, because he’s going to take the extra yardage on you by running you over or running around you. The question that everybody had was can he handle the load? You don’t blame him. It’s a hard process. I went through the same exact thing when I was young.”
Ward has been out the past three games and took a step forward by participating in the individual portion of practice, which prompted applause from his teammates.
“If I keep progressing, Sunday is looking very, very likely,” said Ward, who was impressive in a four-game stretch subbing for Jacobs, gaining 353 yards.
Barber speaks often with Ward and this week jokingly told him, “You have no choice, get your [butt] off the shelf and get back on the field.”
Barber also has shared his secrets of running back durability with Ward: Get frequent massages, get in the hot tub, stay off your feet, control your speed and intensity in practice.
Droughns, 29, has rushed for 3,503 yards in his eight-year career and is affectionately called “Uncle Reubes” by the other backs. “I take it as a good thing,” said Droughns, who smiles easily.
As much as Droughns – who expected to be part of a 1-2 punch with Jacobs – handled a limited role without complaint and is looked up to as an elder statesman, this week he’s needed to carry the load.
“I still got a lot in me,” he said. “We’re gonna show you guys on Sunday.”
Barber will be watching.
“They’ve been good, because they haven’t had one guy having to do everything,” Barber said, “but once one guy goes down the pressure increases on the others.”