Giants Q&A: Scary moments, but Victor Cruz is OK
Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz (no. 80) is tackled by Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Bradley Fletcher (no. 24) during the first quarter. (Oct. 27, 2013) Credit: Getty Images
What happened to Victor Cruz?
He grabbed a short pass early in the third quarter Sunday and was crunched by Eagles cornerbacks Bradley Fletcher and Nate Allen, injuring his shoulder and neck and sending the usually durable receiver to the locker room for X-rays.
There was great concern at first as Cruz lay on the field and the medical staff did not remove his helmet, but Cruz soon bounced to his feet and jogged to the sideline. Eventually, he returned to the field after getting the all-clear from the doctors.
Was it a dirty hit?
No, but Cruz seemed to think it may have been personal.
"Nothing surprises me with these teams," he said. "Obviously, I've done pretty well in these games throughout my career that I've pretty much been targeted week in and week out to kind of be the guy to get stopped and double-teamed from time to time. I expect it, I embrace it and I just have to keep playing."
Was there a chance Cruz was not going to return to the game?
"No," he said.
Can the special teams get its act together?
For the fourth time this year, an opponent scored a touchdown against the punting unit. This time it was on a bad snap as Zak DeOssie air-mailed the ball over the head of Steve Weatherford, a rare mistake for the usually reliable player.
"I don't think I've ever seen him do that, not even on the practice field," Tom Coughlin said. "And the timing was terrible."
So was the bad snap on DeOssie's mind when he had to do it again in the final minute?
"You would assume it's difficult, but I knew exactly what I did wrong, so I was able to fix it," DeOssie said. "I'm a professional and I know how to snap the ball."
Weatherford said he had just as much confidence, but he still was impressed that DeOssie nailed his last snap. "The most important thing is the next play, and when we needed him to have a snap at the end of the game for that last punt, he put it right on me," Weatherford said.
Should the final score have been 15-2?
Probably. Weatherford said he was going to try to kick the bouncing ball out of the back of the end zone for a safety, but as he brought his leg back to swipe at it, the football took a funky bounce out of his range and he was unable to get a foot on it.
How did Hakeem Nicks do a week after dropping three passes?
This time it was his feet that were the problem, not his hands. Nicks caught seven passes for 51 yards and hauled in two passes that were ruled out of bounds in the back of the end zone. "I could have had a couple extra [catches] if I had just got that other foot down," he said.
