Will Victor Cruz return before the Giants' bye in Week 11?
Victor Cruz #80 of the New York Giants looks on from the sidelines in the first half against the San Francisco 49ers at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, Oct. 11, 2015 in East Rutherford, N.J. Credit: Jim McIsaac
There is still no definitive timeline for Giants receiver Victor Cruz's return, but the medical staff seems to believe he will be back before the bye in Week 11. That was their conclusion two weeks ago, anyway, when Cruz re-injured his calf in practice in an attempt to take the field against the Bills in Week 4.
At that time, the Giants considered putting Cruz on injured reserve with a designation to return.
"This was thoroughly discussed when he injured himself the last time," Tom Coughlin said. "The doctors battled for him being back before the time would be up on the IR."
Had Cruz been placed on IR at that time, he would have been out for eight weeks. Or until the bye.
As it is, Cruz has yet to be cleared to even work outdoors. He remains in the facility doing rehab and underwater treadmill work. He had a PRP injection in his calf two weeks ago, the day after the setback in practice.
Cruz won't play against the Eagles. He's unlikely to play against the Cowboys given the short week. That leaves a window of three games -- at New Orleans, at Tampa Bay and home against the Patriots -- before the bye. If Cruz can make it back for one of those games, then the decision to keep him off injured reserve with the designation will have been a good one.
If he's not, then the medical staff's roll of the dice will have come up as a bad risk.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
