WR Victor Cruz
August 31, 2015
Q: Tom said you weren’t cleared to practice yet, at least as of yesterday, is that still accurate? Or have you been cleared to return to practice?
A: That’s still accurate. They haven’t cleared me just yet. I’m just listening to the training staff. The things they say to me is indicative of what will happen out here on this field.
Q: Obviously none of us here are doctors, but it seems like a long time for what was thought to be a minor calf injury. Is it more serious than you first thought?
A: I think we’re just being careful, cautious with it. Especially, you don’t want to come out here, and calfs are tricky. Once they feel healed and once they feel okay, you can go out here and mess it up again. So you want to make sure that it’s fully healed and fully recovered once you step back out there on the field.
Q: Last week you called it inflammation in the calf, is that still there and still sort of what you’re trying to work with?
A: It’s gone down substantially. But we’re still working with the training staff to continue to get the swelling down and continue to get myself back to 100 percent.
Q: If you’re not able to get into practices this week or the preseason game, do you still feel like come opening day you’ll be ready to go? Do you feel there might be some rust?
A: I think I’ll be ready to go. Hopefully come Week 1, I’m able to get on the practice field and run around a little bit. I know how Coach Coughlin loves his guys to practice—if you don’t practice, you don’t play. So I want to be out here for practice come Week 1. And hopefully that’s the goal. We’ll see where it goes.
Q: Because of what you were able to do back in Cincinnati—it seems like a long time ago. It seemed like you were at that point where you felt like, “Get me on the field, get me in a game.” Do you still feel like you’re at that point, where once you’re cleared, you can get right back to where you were?
A: Yeah, absolutely. I feel like, obviously, offensively I know the offense, I know all the things that I’ve done since I started playing football—catching the ball, running routes, and all of those things like that. So I still think I’m right there. Just things happen, just a small setback. I’m just anxious to get through this and make it out the other end.
Q: Going through a major injury to this injury now, does it change how you think about this injury? Do you tell yourself to take your time?
A: A little bit. Obviously, you go out and you understand coming off a major knee surgery—something that comes off of that, any injury after that—you want to be careful, you want to be cautious with it. I think that’s what we’re doing. We just want to make sure that it’s really back to 100 percent and strong and able to cut, and all those things before we try it out on the field.
Q: What have you been able to do so far in the past week or two? Are you working inside, are you jogging, running?
A: I haven’t been able to jog. Not that I haven’t been able to, but they don’t want me to right now. They just want me to sit down and let it heal, let it repair itself and things like that. I’ve just been working out—lower body one leg or whatever the case may be, upper body. Just doing all the things I can to stay in shape.
Q: Without the practices, obviously you have the time right now. Is there anything you and Eli can do to expedite that chemistry because it has been so long?
A: There’s things we can do in the meeting rooms—understanding where he likes to position the ball. And coming out and getting together with him at any point in time. Trying to get some timing down with it within the practices or something we do kind of off the field. Whatever we can squeeze in timing-wise, it will be good. But it’s all pretty much cut and dry. Eli knows where I’ll be, he knows the routes, I know the routes. So hopefully we can continue to stay on the same page.
Q: As far as we know, you never doubted opening day or your ability to return to full strength. Because of this setback, does any uncertainty creep into your mind about the opener and the first couple weeks of the season?
A: No. Not yet, at least. Nothing has been set in stone, in terms of playing that first week or not playing that first week. I’m still excited for Week 1—that’s still the goal, that’s still the plan, in my opinion. Obviously, the training staff will advise if they see differently as the next week and a half comes along. But we’ll see. So, I’m just taking it one day at a time, and making sure that I’m ready to go.
Q: What about your confidence in your ability to return as the old Victor Cruz?
A: I’m still confident, I still feel good. Obviously the calf—once that’s back to form and I’m able to run again, that confidence will always be there to go out and make plays and catch the football.
No...it is perfectly normal for there to be minor injuries coming off major knee surgery. Just speculating, but you would think he's slightly overcompensating for his knee, and that may affect his calf...even if that's not the case, there is no reason to to kick Cruz to the curb unless he clearly can't play.