After an embarrassing outing against the Detroit Lions, the New York Giants have a litany of things they need to fix on offense. On Wednesday morning, Giants’ wide receiver Victor Cruz spoke to the media about the new offense and how he believes those problems can be fixed rather quickly.
“I think in order for us to be successful, there needs to be an increased number of targets in my direction,” Cruz said Tuesday, according to the New York Daily News. Cruz would continue by saying, “And in other playmakers’ directions. Just like Rueben Randle as well, in my opinion. But 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.”
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Cruz would go on to say that he and Randle got less attention due to Detroit’s defense. ““It was just the way the game unfolded,” he said to CBS Sports. “I’m not saying it was deliberate or that he just wasn’t looking this way. The way the coverage played out, a lot of the plays wound up getting shifted to JJ’s side and we had some seams open up for Donnell. But you want to make an effort to get Rueben and myself the ball.”
While there’s obviously truth to Cruz’s claim, it’s a whole lot easier said than done.
First and foremost, the offensive line needs to give Eli time to deliver the ball. On Monday night, the offensive line was manhandled by the Lions’ defensive front, and they couldn’t even handle a four man rush for most of the game. If Cruz wants to see any balls being thrown his way, the offensive line seriously needs to step up.
Secondly, Cruz needs to elevate his game as well. As I said in my game recap, Cruz had some ugly, ugly drops that I haven’t seen him make since the start of 2011. In fact, the whole receiving core had some bad drops on Monday.
Cruz was also correct when he insinuated the run game wasn’t good on Monday. For such a great preseason, Rashad Jennings and Andre Williams only combined for 55 yards.
I think it’s a good thing that Cruz, a newly elected captain, is voicing his opinion and trying to do his best to fix the broken offense. While I don’t think throwing Cruz the ball 30 times a game will help too much, I firmly believe that getting Cruz and Randle involved early will help Eli get into a rhythm.
Don’t be fooled, Giants’ fans, as I don’t envision Cruz turning into the next Keyshawn Johnson or Terrell Owens. This is just a confident, frustrated player that is likely trying to do everything he can to fix the putrid offense.
And for what it’s worth, Tom Coughlin gave another classic Tom Coughlin answer when asked about Cruz’s statements. “I’m not going that way,” Coughlin said to CBS Sports. “I don’t see it. A lot of mistakes you’re seeing are technical things, not communication.”