Giants running back Ahmad Bradshaw thought no one could fill the huge void in his life after his older brother Ronell died of heart failure when Ahmad was just 10 years old.
Then came Brandon Jacobs.
Bradshaw’s eyes practically mist up when he talks about Jacobs, who has become his mate in more than just the Big Blue backfield in just three short years together.
The family-like fierceness of that bond explains why a dynamic that might tear apart many locker rooms — one proud player (Jacobs) losing his starting job to another proud player (Bradshaw) — has instead become a strength for the Giants.
“He’s become that big brother that I lost when [Ronell] died,” Bradshaw told The Post this week. “He looks out for me, gives me courage and makes sure I’m doing the right thing. He’s always there for me, and I love the guy.”
The surging Giants, winners of three in a row and leading the NFC East at 4-2 as they head into tomorrow night’s visit to the Cowboys, certainly love the results of the Bradshaw-Jacobs combination since Bradshaw was named the starter over Jacobs in training camp.
Bradshaw leads the NFC in rushing with 582 yards, and Jacobs has scored four touchdowns in the past three games and has become a model citizen since venting publicly about his demotion and getting fined $10,000 for throwing his helmet into the stands in Indianapolis.
Together, they’re a big reason why the Giants are fifth in the NFL in rushing and suddenly look like Super Bowl contenders in a weakened conference.
Jacobs said he wonders if any of that would have been possible had he and Bradshaw not been so close.
“He’s my little brother from another mother,” said Jacobs, who at age 28 is four years older than Bradshaw. “On most teams, guys that go through the situation Ahmad and I just had, the friendship is going to break down. But that’s not the case here because both of us know this stuff doesn’t matter and that our friendship is going to outlast all of it.”
To say the two players are close would be an understatement. Not only have they have had lockers next to each other since Bradshaw’s rookie year in 2007, but they also live so close to each other in New Jersey that they regularly carpool to the Gi ants’ practice fa cility.
Their signifi cant others are best friends, too, and the two fam ilies usually can be found din ing out to gether or eating at each other’s homes when they’re not vacationing together in the offseason.
Bradshaw, Jacobs and the Giants certainly know how unusual that closeness is in an NFL locker room for two players playing the same position.
“We’re blessed to have it be that way,” Giants running backs coach Jerald Ingram told The Post. “In a lot of cases, guys like that might be at each other’s throats and it’s a problem. But these guys are more like brothers than any two guys I’ve ever seen.”
Both players say they were determined not to let it hurt their friendship from the moment they were told Jacobs would lose his starting job, which Bradshaw revealed was as far back as June.
Jacobs com plained openly, but he always made it clear — at least to Bradshaw — that his beef was with the front office and not with his close friend.
“We both looked at it as, ‘I’ve earned it,’ ” Bradshaw said. “He always told me that I had nothing to do with it, that it was the front office. He even said that I deserved it.”
All true, according to Jacobs.
“I want to see him excel and do well and take care of his family, and I’m happy to see this happen for him,” Jacobs said. “I’ve told him to take the opportunity and run with it.”
Speculation remains that the helmet incident and sulking combined with his big salary and declining production could result in this being Jacobs’ last season with the Giants. That’s something Bradshaw doesn’t even want to think about.
“That would be tough for me,” he said. “Of course, I would be upset, because he’s put me under his wing since Day 1. He’s a big brother to me, and you never want your big brother to leave — ever.”
It’s something Bradshaw poignantly knows all too well.