Victor Cruz ready to find end zone again
Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz is seen during warmup before action against the Denver Broncos in an NFL football game at MetLife Stadium. (Sept. 15, 2013) Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
The Giants have been waiting for their offense to kick into high gear and start putting up yards and points at the rate they thought they would be when the season began.
Now, after the bye and midway through the campaign, Victor Cruz is done waiting.
“I think it’s time,” he said. “I think we understand what position we’re in, I think we understand that we’re looking at this three-game stretch we have here at home, we want to really take advantage of it, we want to really get a step ahead on ourselves and get some things going offensively. Our defense has been playing spectacular, so we want to rally behind them and get things going.”
The Giants have won their last two games, but have scored just two offensive touchdowns in those wins, none in the 15-7 victory over the Eagles that stands as their last performance. They have not reached the end zone 81:23.
“We’re doing a good job of getting into the red zone but now we have to work on putting points on the board and getting touchdowns and not settling for field goals,” Cruz said. “We see opportunities there, now it’s just a matter of finishing them off.”
It no doubt helps his optimism that the Giants are facing a team that allowed 49 points and seven touchdown passes a week ago. While Tom Coughlin said he dismisses that game from his scouting and chooses to focus on more sturdy performances by the Raiders, those numbers are hard for Cruz to ignore.
“You just get excited,” he said. “You understand there are going to be opportunities there, there are going to be chances for you to make big plays. But you just have to stay focused and take it one play at a time.”
Cruz took it zero plays at a time Wednesday as he sat out practice with the lingering effects of a neck injury he suffered two weeks ago against the Eagles. He was feeling fine and even practiced on Monday but woke up Tuesday with some stiffness in the neck.
Team doctors examined him and determined that he should skip Wednesday’s practice. Cruz said he expects to practice on Thursday and will almost certainly play on Sunday.
“It’s just some precautionary stuff,” Cruz said. “[They wanted to] give me a day to rebuild and feel really good come Thursday and Friday and take it into the weekend from there.”
