Thursday Transcript: WR Victor Cruz

WR Victor Cruz

October 8, 2015

Re: timetable for injury

A: Obviously you would want kind of a definitive answer, but I could only take what they give me. So day-to-day is it.

Q: So what do you do in the meantime? What are you allowed to do, what can do you, what do you do for the knee?

A: Continue to work on the knee and strengthen around the knee on the right side and just continue to keep my wind up. Continue to do pool workouts, continue to do certain exercises, continue to work on my wind just so I can stay in shape. But that’s about it for now.

Q: When you got the PRP treatment, did they say like two weeks? Did they give you a timeframe for when you might expect to see something?

A: No, because it varies. It depends on the injury, it depends on the person, it depends on the area of the body where the shot is being performed. So it varies. They didn’t give me a timeframe, they didn’t give me a week-to-week or anything like that. They said it was day-to-day and we’ll re-assess it on Monday.

Q: Is it hard to believe it’s coming up on a year with the knee injury?

A: A little bit. Feels like yesterday that it happened and I was going through the rehab process. It wasn’t the funnest one, obviously. It’s almost been a year and Philly is coming up around the corner as well. The irony is definitely setting in.

Q: It would be a pretty poetic return for you.

A: It would be a good one to come back for, to say the least.

Q: Do you have it in your sights?

A: Every game is in my sights, to be honest. Every week I’m trying to gauge it and see how it feels and kind of take steps and wake up in the morning and do the old calf raise test in bed and stuff like that. We’ll see how it goes.

Q: But knowing how far you’ve come from that, does that kind of give you hope that you can beat this thing?

A: Yeah, absolutely. Obviously there is some optimism because of how far I’ve come to date and the obstacles that I’ve been able to hurdle and get over up until now. So there’s definitely some optimism there, but obviously not just there yet. So we’ve got to take it one day at a time.

Q: When you had this setback on the practice field trying to go full speed, how far away from that level are you now? Have you gone back down on a scale?

A: On a scale of 1-10, back to that level, I probably went down to about a 7.5, 8 compared to the maybe 9.5 that I was when I was testing it out. So I’m not far away from that, I can feel that, I can feel that it’s not the same injury from when it happened eight weeks ago or so. So I’m just trying to continue to be optimistic and continue to listen to the doctors and listen to my body.

Q: Can you feel a difference from the PRP?

A: Yeah, I do. It feels different, it feels stronger, I don’t feel that initial pain anymore. When I would walk, I would feel it a little bit. I don’t feel that anymore. So those are all good signs. But obviously, my mind is I want to sprint, I want to do the treadmill, I want to do things. But they continue to keep me back until they give me 10 full days for the PRP to kind of set in.

Q: Is that sort of the number, 10 full days?

A: Well, that’s what the doctor told me. Obviously everybody is different and it all varies, but yeah, that’s the number the doctor gave me.

Q: I know this was in the past last week, but what did it mean to you to see Rueben give you a shout out with the salsa?

A: That meant a lot. That meant a lot, man. As I watching, it put a smile on my face. It’s just to know that my teammates and my receiving corps, specifically, are thinking about me and they know how bad I want to be out there with them, how bad I want to be in those trenches with them, and it really meant a lot for him to do that—more than he even knows.

Q: Just to make sure I understand, it’s 10 days before you can even try to accelerate to the next level?

A: Ten days before I can have another conversation with the doctors about accelerating to the next level. So we’ll see how it goes, obviously. They don’t want me to do anything strenuous with the calf for 10 days, let the PRP shot settle in and work its magic, and go from there.

Q: That’s retroactive to when you had it?

A: Retroactive, yeah. So this Monday.

Q: So what have you been doing in the meantime? Sorry if you answered it.

A: I did already answer that. Not a lot. Just continue to keep my wind up, doing pool workouts, doing things for my heart rate to keep my heart rate up to make sure when I do get back out there on the field, I’m not as winded as I would be because naturally I would be winded because I haven’t had that football conditioning. So, hopefully, I don’t want to be too winded doing the workouts and stuff.

Q: You obviously never imagined not being on the field at this point after working so hard to get back and having another setback. How hard has that been for you to handle?

A: It’s been difficult. Obviously, emotionally more than mentally, because mentally I can hone into my injury and hone into the rehab process. But emotionally, it’s like, again. It’s something that set me back from being out there and that’s tough. It’s still tough for me, I’m still battling it every day, day to day. My teammates help me out being in here, these guys talking to me about keeping my head up, and things like that. Those guys help me.

Q: Not knowing a timetable for you, it’s easy to wonder not when you’ll be back but if you’ll be back. Do you have any of those doubts? Are you still convinced that at some point this year you’re going to be on the field?

A: I do. I’m thoroughly convinced at some point throughout this year I’ll be on that field playing at a high level and making some plays to help my team win.

Q: You said you’re not that far away? Is that what you said earlier?

A: I was just saying, obviously, the doctor wants to see me again after 10 days of the PRP injection to see how I’ve progressed, how things have come along, and we’ll see where it goes from there. It feels better. Obviously, I haven’t tested it a lot since the PRP shot, but it feels better just to walk and do normal day-to-day things which kind of ailed me a little bit earlier.

Q: So ideally, the Eagles game would be targeted by you?

A: Every game will be circled by me. Obviously, Philly—

Q: But that’s the more realistic one at this point?

A: In my eyes, every game is realistic. Sunday, the next Sunday, Monday night—whatever game is the upcoming one, that’s the one I’m looking at. So that’s the way I want to approach every week. I want to approach as if I’m getting ready to play; if the doctors tell me otherwise, then so be it. But I want to be mentally, that’s the way I can get over each and every hump.

Q: Are you planning on being more cautious returning to the practice field because of the setback?

A: I think so. Essentially, you listen to the training staff, but it’s your body. So you have to gauge it how you come along. Like I said, calves are a pretty tricky injury so it’s something you have to watch and be careful with.

Q: Can you do anything different treatment wise? Are there any other things you can do besides the PRP?

A: I think that’s pretty much it. Just got to sit back and wait for it to fully heal and wait for it to work its magic a little bit.

Q: In the preseason you watched the Jaguars take some liberties with Odell Beckham and you kind of warned that teams might do that to him. On Sunday did you see a little of what you were concerned about, team’s going at him a little too hard?

A: Yeah. I mean, you see it on film, you see it. He’s a fiery kid, too. He’s not going to sit there and take it, he’s going to combat that with what he knows and what’s being given to him. That’s the only way in the heat of the moment, in the heat of the battle, that’s how you combat that—blocking them as hard as they’re blocking you, couple cheat shots and things like that. He knows it. I told him it’s part of the game, it’s part of teams trying to get in your mind and your head, and you have to be bigger than that, you have to be mentally stronger than that, and know that these things are coming and learn how to combat that.