Jake Ballard was an underdog hero of the Giants’ Super Bowl run – and it ruined his career

Put up photograph illustration; AP

The moments emerged 10 years in the past, however preserve a new child’s shine: Wes Welker’s drop. Manning to Manningham. Ahmad Bradshaw’s failed try to remain out of the top zone.

The reminiscences stay vivid — extra important than all however a restricted choice of performs within the Giants’ 97-year historical past —because the catalysts for the franchise’s second Tremendous Bowl upset of the Patriots.

To Jake Ballard, all of it felt miles away. He was within the constructing, however at nighttime.

Early within the fourth quarter, the Giants’ beginning tight finish was marching down the sector with Eli Manning. Within the last minutes, Ballard was within the locker room, essentially the most curious man in America. Cheers thundered by way of the bowels of Lucas Oil Stadium, with no strategy to decipher New England’s momentum from New York’s. There was no TV close by, no radio, no smartphone. There was no means for Ballard to stroll, no means to maneuver the injured participant.