Yet in April 2005, when it came time for the NFL to draft Football players, the general managers and scouting staffs of 31 professional teams managed to overlook Brandon Jacobs, all 76 inches and 264 pounds of him.

Three full rounds plus eight more picks - 110 players in all, including 10 running backs - went by before the Giants chose Jacobs, and three years and a Super Bowl ring later, you wonder how in hell so many highly trained and paid professionals could manage to miss out on this guy.

Well, for one thing, Jacobs had switched colleges, and for another, he had the disconcerting habit of becoming overly exuberant on game day. He liked to woof at defenders upon whose backs he had just left tire tracks.

But worst of all, he was big. Too big to run the Football.

"Make yourself smaller," is the kind of advice NFL scouts routinely give to backs the size of Jacobs, which is like advising Bill Parcells to make himself humble. It was advice given matter-of-factly, as if it were possible for a man the size of a Mini Cooper, wearing a helmet and shoulder pads and running with a Football tucked under his arm, could somehow transform himself into a stealth bomber.

That was what passed for conventional wisdom in NFL circles in 2005, and still does today. The smaller the target, the reasoning goes, the fewer the solid hits absorbed, the greater the yardage gained, the longer the career. In this new, streamlined, speed-crazy NFL, guys like Jacobs were dinosaurs headed for the tar pits.

Except when they're headed for a second straight NFC East title and, quite possibly, a second consecutive Super Bowl. Today, following a convincing 30-10 win over the Ravens, whose defense was supposed to be the brick wall no running back could dent, Jacobs is emerging as the biggest offensive star in town. Even Brett Favre's town.

"Anyone can make early-round picks," said Jerry Reese, the Giants' GM who in 2005 was their director of player personnel. "But when you can steal a guy like this on the back side of the draft, that's where you make your money."

Consider Reese to have earned his salary that year, and a bonus. While the rest of the league was totaling up Jacobs' debits - he had transferred from Auburn, where he languished behind Ronnie Brown, the eventual No. 2 pick, and Cadillac Williams, who went fifth, to Southern Illinois; he had, they thought, a big mouth, and he had, they could see, an even bigger body - Reese and his boss, Ernie Accorsi, were thinking about guys like Earl Campbell and Kevin Mack and even Bronko Nagurski.

"I hate to admit it, but I'm old enough to remember the days when the fullback was a ballcarrier," the retired Accorsi said yesterday. He was also sharp enough to realize the game maybe hadn't changed as much as some people thought it had. A big man could still run over people, and a big, fast man could still exhaust and discourage a defense, rip its heart right out.

On Saturday, facing a defense that was holding its opponents to a ridiculous 65 rushing yards per game, Jacobs took the ball on the Giants' second play from scrimmage, barreled into the center of the pile and it was 36 yards before they finally wrestled him out of bounds.

On the Ravens' sideline, coach John Harbaugh must have been thinking what Bill Belichick blurted to Accorsi after Jacobs had ripped off a 75-yard run as a rookie in a preseason game: "Where the hell did you get that guy?" Only he didn't say "hell."

"We had our eye on him for a long time," Reese said. "Truthfully, we were looking for a goal-line and short-yardage back to take some of the load off Tiki [Barber]. Initially, we didn't see him as a full-time back. Hey, it's an inexact science."

Jacobs ran the ball five more times on that opening drive, gained 52 of the Giants' 68 yards and punched it in from the 1 for their first touchdown. On the next drive, he bowled over Ed Reed, a Pro Bowl safety and world-class hitter, at the end of a 15-yard gain.

Even Ray Lewis needed help every time he tackled Jacobs, who called it a day two carries into the second half after slightly injuring his knee by landing on it with his own substantial bulk. But by then, he had sufficiently softened up the Ravens for Derrick Ward and Ahmad Bradshaw to take over.

"Technical difficulties," was how Jacobs described the injury, and there was an MRI yesterday, but you better believe he will play Sunday in Arizona.

"We're capable of anything," Jacobs said. "You might see one of us fly one day."

Why not? Until now, the rest of the league didn't even think he could run.

Rushing to head of class

The 10 running backs who were selected ahead of Brandon Jacobs in the 2005 NFL draft:

Team Back Rd./overall Where are they now?

Miami Ronnie Brown 1 2 Starter has 605 rushing yards

Chicago Cedric Benson 1 4 Cut by Bears; signed by Bengals

Tampa Bay Carnell Williams 1 5 Injured; yet to play in '08

Arizona J.J. Arrington 2 44 Backup for Cards

Carolina Eric Shelton 2 54 Not in the league

SF Frank Gore 3 65 Seventh in NFL in rushing

Houston Vernand Morency 3 73 Not in the league

Philadelphia Ryan Moats 3 77 Backup with Texans

Denver Maurice Clarett 3 101 Sentenced to 7 1/2-year prison term

Dallas Marion Barber III 4 109 Ninth in NFL in rushing