Cruz Solution To Giants' Offensive Woes, Get Him The Ball
By Curt Macysyn
After several weeks of preaching patience with the growing pains of the new Giants' offense, wide receiver Victor Cruz sounded frustrated as he met the media this week. Following a preseason where he did not catch a pass until New York's fourth preseason game against the New York Jets, Cruz seemed believable as he voiced a faith that things would work out offensively. But his tune changed this week after the offense laid another egg in the Motor City,when the Giants were manhandled by the Detroit Lions 35-14 before a nationwide audience on Monday night.
"It is hard to tell, but I did think those problems would be over and that we would be able to get into a rhythm, mainly because we were playing a full four quarters. We were playing more than we had in the preseason. It is unfortunate that we did not come out and have that rhythm that I thought we would have, but the great part is that it is only Week 1. We have time to fix this thing. We have a good practice week ahead of us and we will see what happens," Cruz said.
For the game, Cruz only caught two passes for 24 yards against a mediocre Lions's secondary, so the questions about new offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo's strategy became a little bit louder this week. Quarterback Eli Manning has also been criticized after another multiple interception performance, as he chucked two passes to the wrong colored jersey to open up the season on the wrong foot.
The solution is pretty simple, according to Cruz, "I think it is important. I think in order for us to be successful, there needs to be an increased number of targets in my direction and other playmakers’ directions, just like Rueben Randle as well, in my opinion. That all comes with the continuity. That comes with getting the running game going. That comes with building what we want to build as the game continues. It is just a matter of once we find that rhythm early on, we can get into passing the ball and opening up the plays a little bit."
To be fair to Manning, if he threw the same pass to Larry Donnell 100 times, chances are that DeAndre Levy catches it once or twice. It was a catch that Giants' receivers could emulate to take some pressure off of their QB, in fact. Manning's second interception was a pass that Lions' safety Glover Quin comes down with 100 percent of the time. Yet as much as Manning should not have thrown the ball across his body without much velocity, wide receiver Cruz did not help matters in assisting Manning in his attempt to make a play for the G-men.
Replays show that Cruz probably had three options on the play. First, seeing that Manning was rolling against his body and in trouble, he could have broken off his route and made an attempt to come back to the ball. This would have made for an easier throw for Manning. A second option could have been for Cruz to break deep, similar to what the Lions' Calvin Johnson did in the first quarter to the Giants' secondary, and let Detroit's over-aggression work against them. The third option was what Cruz did, basically try to have Manning throw him open to the sideline.
Given the fact that Manning was rolled out left and throwing against his body, Cruz did not provide the best option to his quarterback in this situation. So when Cruz says he needs to be involved earlier and to a greater extent, the demand seems a little hollow at this point.
And Cruz's concern about involving Rueben Randle more is somewhat curious, given Randle's apparent inability to make adjustments in the passing game. When asked specifically why Randle was not involved much against Detroit, Cruz became contradictory in his response.
"I think it was just the progressions. I think it was just the way the game unfolded. I don’t think it was anything deliberate or [Eli] wasn’t looking his way. I just think it was the way the coverages panned out, and there were a lot of the plays we were calling that were being shifted over to JJ’s side or if it was a two-high shell, then we had some seams and Larry Donnell would get the ball. It was just one of those things where that is just how the game unfolded. I do believe we have to make a concerted effort to get Rueben Randle the ball as well as myself and build some continuity."
Having the interception-prone quarterback force the ball to some receivers does not sound like a solution, in fact, it sounds like what has been occurring all along.
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Curt Macysyn has been covering the New York Football Giants for the past two seasons for Examiner.com. Born and raised in northern New Jersey, Curt has followed and covered the New York Metropolitan sports scene for 35 years. He attended Seton Hall Prep School in South Orange, NJ and is a graduate of Rutgers University, New Brunswick. His work can be found on aExaminer.com.
