They could have traded Osi Umenyiora out of spite when he threw his tantrum, called the general manager a liar and sat out training-camp practices. Just a heck of a game and a heck of a season by the kid."Ĭruz is the emblem of what the Giants have just pulled off - a player who has developed quickly and brilliantly thanks to the coaching and the environment provided by one of the league's proudest and most stable franchises. "I'm cheering for him, doing cartwheels on the sidelines as he's running by. "He just keeps doing it, and thank god he does," Coughlin said. He's a quarterback's dream - a receiver you can trust not only to catch the ball in a big spot but to make the absolute most of it once he does. According to ESPN Stats & Information, he had three catches this season on which he gained at least 60 yards after the catch, including Sunday night's big touchdown. I like that our guys rallied around and did that."įew did it better than Cruz, who had five touchdown catches this season longer than 65 yards. "But also to play tough in important and big games. "It's one thing to be regarded for your toughness," Coughlin said. But at the end of a season that could easily have slipped away while they were losing four straight to some of the league's best teams, the Giants stiffened up.
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They needed the Eagles and Cowboys to blow a bunch of fourth-quarter leads, helping make this the first full season in history in which the NFC East could be won with fewer than 10 victories. The Giants needed some external things to happen to make this possible. But I'm excited that we're here, we won our division and we're going to the playoffs." "Due to some injuries, I was able to come in and play a significant role. "A realistic goal for me was just to get a catch in a real game that mattered, in a real game that counted," Cruz said, looking back over his season to the expectations with which it began. They did not know that guys like Cruz and Jason Pierre-Paul were going to blow the NFL's doors off in 2011, but they knew they had those players, didn't have the ones who left or got hurt, and that the best chance they had to make something of the season was to work as hard as possible with the guys on the roster. They let a couple of prime Manning targets walk out the door and declined to replace them, and they got roasted for it, here and in many other places.
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The Giants did nearly nothing, and in fact lost players to free agency.
Philadelphia's free-agent frenzy was the story of the league in August, and it pushed the Eagles to the top of the preseason prediction lists for the NFC East. This was the offseason, remember, in which the Eagles loaded up and the Giants did nothing. And everybody here is going to work to make sure you become as good as you can possibly be." "It's about having a very good organization - an organization that believes in their guys," veteran left tackle David Diehl said. The fact that an undrafted second-year wide receiver who didn't catch a pass last season was so central to that effort is nothing short of vindication for a franchise determined to do things its own way. It crescendoed with a 99-yard touchdown catch in Week 16 and a 74-yard touchdown catch in Week 17 against the Cowboys - two huge plays that keyed two huge victories and a surprise division title. Cruz's breakout season began last summer, when he showed up for every lockout workout Manning called and worked with his quarterback on every detail he could process. In an era that demands instant gratification, instant success, the Giants preach and exercise patience as the best way to get better. Jerry Reese and Tom Coughlin didn't dream those numbers for Cruz in their wildest, most hopeful dreams.īut what they did see was talent, and a chance to develop that talent. But no way did you see 82 catches, 1,536 yards and nine touchdowns. Sure you might have thought he'd turn into a good receiver with Eli Manning throwing him the ball in a pass-happy New York Giants offense. Tell me you saw Victor Cruz coming, and I'll call you a liar to your face.
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