From his living room outside Richmond, Va., Albert Jennings knew early in the afternoon that his son would live up to his promise. He could see his legs, always pushing and churning, for extra yards on the MetLife Stadium field in an effort his team so badly needed.

The father could see, even on the TV screen from hundreds of miles away, that what his son had said to motivate himself had worked. You can bet that Albert Jennings was proud of that, because on this important day for his son's career, he was the inspiration.

“Very proud. Proud to death,” Albert Jennings said over the phone. “It was the best I've seen him run – the best so far. He's going to do great things.”

His son Rashad Jennings had called him before the Giants played the Texans with this message: “I'm playing this one for you.” The father laughed and said, “Go kick butt.” This is the kind of family that holds nothing back, so the Giants running back knew what might happen if he didn't have a good game after that phone call.

“If I would've stank the field up, he would have said, 'You ain't my son,'” he said with a laugh.

Jennings did not stink it up, not even close. He had 176 yards on 34 carries with a touchdown, the most for a Giants running back in two years. He turned an ineffective offense into a Giants offense, the kind that head coach Tom Coughlin has always wanted that controls the game on the ground.

And Jennings did it for his father. He gathered his teammates together for the team prayer and encouraged themselves to find motivation from beyond themselves, because he believes that's the best way to bring out your best performance.

“I told my teammates, 'Whatever reason you play this game, play that way,'” Jennings said after the 30-17 victory. “Whether it's a child with cancer you want to motivate, play that way. If it's to prove somebody wrong, play that way. If it's to play for this team, play that way. If it's because your grandma's watching you, play that way.

“Today I was just reminded that my father has diabetes and he ended up getting both of his legs amputated. He doesn't have legs. Today, I remembered that I do have them.”

Albert Jennings has diabetes. He said over the phone that he felt great, but his speech was labored and his breathing heavy. Rashad Jennings had just earned the starting job as a freshman at Pittsburgh in 2005 when his father, an Air Force retiree, had his right leg amputated. Rashad left school and enrolled at Liberty University, with a much smaller football program, because it was 10 minutes from his family home.

He figured, Albert and his mother Deborah had taken care of him for the first 19 years, and now it was his turn to help. He went from a rising star to a draft afterthought three years later – the Jaguars took him in the seventh round – but never regretted the decision.

Jennings already had come a long way as a person. He describes himself has a teenager who didn't take much of anything seriously – his health, his school work, his football career – to the point that he once submitted a research paper with one source: Himself. He failed.

“I was an overweight chubby kid with glasses and asthma – I had to figure something out,” Jennings said. “I was 270 in high school riding the bench saying I wanted to play in the NFL. I had to make a commitment in my life to turn that around.”

He credits that commitment with where he is today: In the first year of a four-year, $14-million contract to be the workhorse for the Giants offense. He didn't live up to that in the first two games, carrying a combined 34 times for 110 yards and a killer fumble late in the loss last week to the Arizona Cardinals.

He needed a performance like this to keep the confidence of his head coach. He needed a game like this because his offense needed him to have one, to take pressure off its new coordinator and struggling quarterback.

“It's just a subtle little whisper in your ear,” Jennings said. “At the end of the day, I always give honor to God. Anything good comes from Him. But today I wanted to focus specifically on something, and today was my dad.”

So he made that call and promise to Albert Jennings, who watched his son carry this Giants offense on his back. “Hearing that, it meant a lot,” the proud father said on the phone, and as if he were reading the mind of every Giants fan, he added: “He's got to keep it up!”