NFL

Barber credits girlfriend for reigniting fire

When Traci Johnson began dating Tiki Barber, he was very much an ex-football player immersed in his job at NBC. That was a good thing, considering Johnson doesn’t know or care much about football.

“It’s not that I don’t like it, I know nothing about it to even be able to like it,” Johnson told The Post yesterday.

Johnson, 24, is a former intern at NBC. She first met Barber several years ago when she was still a student at Mount St. Mary College in upstate New York, but sources have said their romantic relationship did not begin until after she left school.

Barber, currently going through a divorce from his estranged wife, Ginny, after 11 years of marriage, credits Johnson for helping get him out of a near-depressed stage after he was fired from NBC.

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“I have a wonderful girlfriend who loves me and got me through those bad times when I didn’t want to get out of bed or leave the apartment,” he said.

Johnson and Barber live in the Riverdale section of The Bronx with Charlotte and Bernice, two King Charles Cavaliers. Johnson saw how adversely affected Barber was to all the negative publicity since he retired from the Giants.

“It was really hard for him to just be motivated, between all the drama with the divorce and everything going on,” Johnson said. “It was tough for him to just be motivated to get dressed and do something productive with his life, instead of just sitting home with the puppies.”

Getting back into football has lit a spark that was missing from Barber.

“I know who he is and I know that was just a phase he had to go through,” Johnson said. “He’s a better father. He’s just a better person in general. He’s more thoughtful of everything. He cares more about his family now than he did before. He’s visited his mom the past year and a half we’ve been together probably 10 or 11 times — he said that’s more than the past nine years of his life. We see his brother (Ronde) more. He cares more about relationships than he did in the past.”

As for attending NFL games with Barber back at running back, “It will be great, as long as I don’t have to wear his jersey,” Johnson said. “I think that’s tacky. But I’ll go.”