NFL

Bradshaw’s accidental TD works out fine for Giants

INDIANAPOLIS — Just call him The Accidental Hero.

Never has a player felt more conflicted — at least at the time — about scoring the winning touchdown in the Super Bowl as Giants running back Ahmad Bradshaw was here last night.

The reason: Bradshaw was under orders not to score at the time because the Giants — trailing by two points and well within field-goal range — were trying to run the clock down on Tom Brady and the Patriots

Bradshaw tried to take a knee at the 1-yard line, but his momentum carried him into the end zone anyway to culminate a 6-yard scoring run that gave the Giants a 21-17 lead, but also gave the running back a case of heartburn until Brady’s Hail Mary fell incomplete.

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“I tried to tap down, declare myself down, but they didn’t blow the whistle fast enough and my momentum just took me into the end zone,” Bradshaw said a bit sheepishly as he celebrated in the Giants’ locker room. “I’m just glad it worked out.”

Eli Manning had ordered Bradshaw, just before the second-down play, to go down at the 1 if the Patriots — anxious to get the ball back — allowed him to score uncontested.

That’s exactly what happened, at least from the New England side, setting the stage for Bradshaw to do what Maurice Jones-Drew memorably did for the Jaguars in a regular-season win over the Jets at the Meadowlands three years ago.

With the Patriots’ linebackers practically waving him through, Bradshaw had nothing but air in front of him on a simple handoff up the middle. It was all going according to plan until Bradshaw appeared to hesitate at the last second and failed to get a knee down, twisting into the end zone instead.

Bradshaw insisted it was an accident and not a mental mistake, and he wasn’t exactly in the mood to apologize to anyone, either, after collecting his second Super Bowl ring as a Giant.

“We won — that’s all that matters,” he said. “We’re up here celebrating. You never know how it would have worked out if I hadn’t scored. There could have been a bad snap [on the field-goal try], anything.”

Bradshaw’s teammates weren’t going to hold it against him, anyway.

“We had his back,” defensive end Dave Tollefson said. “We went out and made sure of that, as you saw.”

Leaving Bradshaw overjoyed instead of hanging his head afterward.

“It’s unexplainable, the feeling right now,” Bradshaw said. “I’m so blessed to be part of this team.”