BRADSHAW RELISHES HIS SECOND CHANCE

THE Giants have never been a Home For Wayward Boys, the way the George Steinbrenner's Yankees were when they gave second [and beyond] chances to players like Steve Howe, Doc Gooden and Darryl Strawberry. But from Wellington Mara to now, they have not been afraid to take the heat and take calculated risks on troubled souls who wound up giving thanks for believing in them when no one else would.

And it worked out fine with Christian Peter, who was dumped by Bob Kraft and the Patriots when there was an outcry over his monstrous behavior toward women at Nebraska, and with Kerry Collins, whose alcoholism left him on the scrap heap before Ernie Accorsi and Jim Fassel came calling.

Now, with Eli Manning left virtually naked when he turns to hand the ball off, here comes Ahmad Bradshaw.

Ahmad Bradshaw runs away from his past now, toward the run-stuffing Vikings and a better tomorrow, simply because it is the only way you get the privilege to play in Roger Goodell's NFL. He has taken the ball the Giants have given him and run with it, and tries not to fumble it away the way Lawrence Phillips did once.

"I'm so anxious for this week," Ahmad Bradshaw is saying at his locker the day before Thanksgiving. "I've been waiting on this opportunity all year just to get a chance to get my hands on the ball in the regular season, and I just gotta take advantage of it and let the game come to me."

He is a shifty 5-foot-9, 198-pound rookie out of Marshall who has cut his teeth returning kickoffs but has yet to carry the ball from scrimmage. That changes today, when Tom Coughlin asks him to help Reuben Droughns. Ahmad Bradshaw is asked how many touches he expects. "No clue, man, but every time I touch it you can be ready for me to be all out when I have it," he said.

His peewee team in Bluefield, Va., was the Bluecoat Chargers. "My dad was my coach," Ahmad Bradshaw said.

He loved Emmitt Smith as a boy.

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