Stages of grief. Denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.
Pro careers for the best players are brief. Injuries make them shorter. Cruz is a great guy that is facing football oblivion. It's always better when players walk away from the game on their own terms. When they don't you get this.
In a couple of years, despite this noise, and when reality has been digested and accepted, the Giants will have a day for him and he will be remembered for the good times and not the bad. For now, you can only hope he does not do any more damage to his Giant legacy.
throw to last year. On a team with no running game.
The offense failed to score 20 points in 6/7 games to flame out the season last year iirc.
If Vic was open and didn't get the ball, that would have been the worst kept secret in football.
I think both Nicks and Steve Smith were bitter towards the Giants immediately after their injuries ended their career's here. Nicks came back to play one last time, so I'm pretty sure his stance softened.
Like Greg pointed out, coming to grips with the end of a career is never easy.
to make Tiki's exit look graceful by comparison. Tape don't lie...there's a reason this guy is still looking for a job in late May. Also, I have a feeling that higher ups were less than pleased with him taking on the role of "buddy" with the younger WRs instead of "mentor/elder statesman". His on-field production had declined to the point that he was likely getting released anyway...but the other off-the-field stuff likely didn't help.
But only gave us 3 good ones. 19 of his 25 TDs came in 2 years. Only 6 salsa's after that. I enjoyed him while he was here, rooted hard for a comeback. Now he shows his true colors. If they wanted to suppress his numbers they could have just sat him most of the year.
After his comments on Eli and now this he has burned his bridge. I guess he needs to learn the hard way.
I saw the games and he is done. The league saw the games and no one signed him.
always came off as a cheerful happy to be hear guy but he's showing himself to be a fraud. Didn't he fuck over his prego wife too as he was becoming a star? Not that I like going there, but the guy sure looks like a doosh now. Thanks for 2011. Go rot.
the Giants owe this guy NOTHING. NOTHING. Cruz should be wiping the ass of every member of this franchise at every turn. The Giants not only gave him a shot, they stuck with him in 2010. Then they allowed him to flourish in 2011-2013 and paid the guy for 2 years when he was shot.
you can just follow the money. Cruz is desperate to stick around the NFL. He's going to regret saying this shit but it is what it is. The guy wants to play.
He doesn't have to rot. But this shit is stupid. Teams aren't dumb they see what they see. The Giants didn't hold Cruz back from anything. Eli brings out the best in WRs. No one ever leaves Eli and puts up better numbers.
he is being a dick because he knows the writing is on the wall
during both his comebacks but he should really back off. The Giants gave him a shot, gave him a fat contract, and NY played a part in his off the field revenue. The Giants then stuck by him through 2 rehabs while still paying him. Then he clearly lost a step and wasn't effective, what on earth is he complaining about?
1. He was playing at the wrong position last year. He is a slot WR.
2. He was not the first or second read for Eli. So, when the O-line is struggling and Eli does not have a lot of time, he is not going to look over at Victor very often.
RE: I watched this full interview the other day on YouTube
of the year, the Giants were suppressing EVERYONE's numbers.
Seriously, this is incredibly stupid. Does VC really think that McAdoo was risking wins just to prevent VC from getting numbers? Why? It makes no sense.
Cruz should thank god every day that it was the Giants who signed him as an UDFA. He parlayed that signing into career earnings that make his grandchildren set for life without lifting a finger.
I watched a lot of the all-22 last year. Cruz was never open. Eli even alluded to it a few times during the season. Eli forced some sideline balls to him but unfortunately Cruz lost his lateral quickness that made him great when he hurt his knee in that Eagles game.
Cruz...please please please...take this advice. Keep quiet, move into entertainment if that is what you want, and you will be revered as a great Giant. Nobody will ever forget your 2011 season and what that meant to us, but remember that we root for a uniform and a franchise most of all, and our loyalty is always going to lie there.
that Cruz basically milked the Giants for every penny he could while doing the least amount of work possible to do so.
His attempted "comeback" smelled like BS the whole time, particularly in 2015 with that "calf" injury. Then last year the org. had to threaten him to get him back on the field.
When this stuff makes it to public consumption, it's the tip of an iceburg.
that Cruz basically milked the Giants for every penny he could while doing the least amount of work possible to do so.
His attempted "comeback" smelled like BS the whole time, particularly in 2015 with that "calf" injury. Then last year the org. had to threaten him to get him back on the field.
When this stuff makes it to public consumption, it's the tip of an iceburg.
You know, usually I'm being over the top when I say these things, but I genuinely loathe you. You're a stain, a walking insult to everyone who posts here.
his 2011 season was spectacular and that fact it ended with a lombardi trophy makes it hard for me to just say "eeehhhhh fuck 'em"...i dont htink he was used properly last season and he did got a few games without garnering a target, which is a bit odd considering the Giants could not run the ball at all.
that being said he did have the 4th amount of targets and receptions on the team. i think the offensive gameplan last year was a disaster. I'd be pissed too,Bobby Rainey had just about as many touches (37) as Cruz (39)
He's way worse than Tiki. Freaking victimhood mentality. Bottom line, he was not open last year, he was not ballin', and maybe he would've been better if he was the slot guy, but Shepard was the man there, and was/is a better option. Cruz has never been a good boundary season, and he wasn't even an adequate one last year.
He is deluded. The best thing for him is to re-establish himself as a good slot receiver, elsewhere.
he brought it on himself, but I still think he's a good guy and a great Giant.
Never liked this guy, no one has gotten paid for less....millions upon millions for a few good games (and really it wasn't much more than that). And now he's determined to flap his mouth and throw everyone under the bus.
Years of taking muliti million dollar paychecks and doing nothing.
He needs something for an excuse, because he certainly can't use his performance from last year to sell himself.
Typically when someone is out of work, publicly talking negatively about your former employer isn't a very good strategy. Maybe say something like...
"I've been a slot WR my whole career and because of the way the roster shaped up last year, it was in the best interest of the team to play me on the outside. It obviously didn't help my numbers, especially coming back from injury, but I'm a team player. And I'm proud of the fact that even with the injuries and even with learning the nuances of playing on the outside, I was able to stick as a starter on an 11-win football team."
And yes, he scored a TD on one of his 4 catches for 25 yards in that Super Bowl.
But Tiki Barber > Cruz by a long-shot. Barber is easily, far and away not only the best RB that the Giants have ever had, but is the third best offensive player the Giants have ever had, next to Eli Manning and Beckham, and one could make the argument that Beckham hasn't done it for long enough yet to usurp Tiki. Cruz really only gave the Giants one great season, one pretty good season, and one ok season, the last one in 2013. Tiki gave us 1 pretty good season, and 5 spectacular seasons in a row, unprecedented for this franchise.
Tiki got shit on by the fans for answering a question about Eli (truthfully). At that time, Eli hadn't really become the leader of the team, he was still learning a bit how to do that. Tiki was the leader of that offense. All Tiki said was it was kind of comical when Eli would lead the pre-game huddle to fire up everyone. He also said (in the same commentary), which never got any of the press, that he thought Eli could and would step up and be the leader of the team. I watched the whole thing live, 10 years ago, and thought the media-frenzy about it was completely overblown and ridiculous. It was something that the NY media could sell, that's it. They spun it, and it created a life of its own, and blew up. And 10 years later, people still don't get it.
Then Tiki talked about the overbearing policies of Coughlin in that 2006 year. Again, he was not wrong. Perhaps he shouldn't have aired it out, but he was a media figure, it was his job to comment on the Giants. Michael Strahan has said the exact same stuff about Coughlin prior to the '07 season. Yet Strahan is a franchise icon because he stuck around long enough to see Coughlin change the way he interacted with his team. And that directly led to a championship season in '07. The players all of a sudden wanted to play for TC, and he became a father-figure and icon to many of them, rather than just a dictator.
Had Coughlin not made that change (which he did thanks to Judy and his kids telling him he needed to), his Giants history wouldn't have remembered him kindly, we don't win a Super Bowl that year, and he likely doesn't stick around long enough for the second one, and Tiki would have been vindicated for his comments about Coughlin's iron fist.
You can say what you want about Tiki, but he gave the franchise EVERYTHING he had and put the offense on his back for arguably 7 consecutive seasons prior to retirement, and to me he had earned his right to speak his mind.
Tiki is still a great Giant, always has been. Victor isn't even in the same conversation as Tiki in terms of great Giants. Victor is in the "very good Giants, for a little while" conversation.
by bad mouthing his old one. Cruz is the prime example why you don't pay a guy before his contract is up. (cough cough OBJ) Guy's get hurt and then are never the same.
millions upon millions for a few good games (and really it wasn't much more than that).
82 catches, 1536 yards, 18.7 YPC, 9 TDs. Yeah, a few good games.
ONE YEAR!!!!! And yeah, the subsequent 2 seasons were "pretty good." Sorry, he's not an all-time Giant. OBJ has already eclipsed his accomplishments. Toomer far exceeds him. Del Shofner was better than him. Homer Jones was better than him. He's just underneath Plaxico and barely above Nicks (which is debatable) in terms of the best WR's in Giants' history, on a franchise that doesn't have a very storied history of great wide receivers.
his target/catch ratio is pretty much the same EVERY year
the different is previous years he was targeted 132 times on average
last year 72
Yeah, last year was 2 years removed from the previous seasons in which he was targeted more. He was, at times, the go-to receiver then. Come on, the 2013 team had Hakeem Nicks, Cruz, and nobody else of note at the receiver position. A second-year Rueben Randle, who wasn't a good player, Louis Murphy and Jerrel Jernigan... please. And he was a slot receiver back in those years, where he excelled. He was never a great boundary receiver (better pre-knee injury). And he had to play boundary receiver last year on a team with OBJ and Shepard. And he didn't get open, so yeah, he should've gotten less targets. Why did the Giants play better when King got more snaps than Cruz out there? There's a reason for that.
want him to reach his contract incentives they would have sat him on the bench. Instead, he was on the field for over 70% of the offensive snaps. And no NFL QB is going to not throw the ball to a wide open WR because management told him not to. It's still primarily about winning. That part is just ridiculous.
really bad hearing him say how the organization was using the training staff to fuck with people and keep them off of the field so they do not reach their incentives. The idea that he was open and that he did not get the ball so his numbers would be low and it would be easier to cut him.
really bad hearing him say how the organization was using the training staff to fuck with people and keep them off of the field so they do not reach their incentives. The idea that he was open and that he did not get the ball so his numbers would be low and it would be easier to cut him.
IF that is true then it would really be fucked up
Why would they have let DRC play in week 17 when he was a single INT away from a huge bonus if that was the case? This is nonsense.
looks like Cruz has decided to crap on his Giants legacy
he's obviously bitter about being released buy the Giants but I really hope he doesn't follow in the footsteps of Tiki Barber by running down the Giants to anybody who will listen....
really bad hearing him say how the organization was using the training staff to fuck with people and keep them off of the field so they do not reach their incentives. The idea that he was open and that he did not get the ball so his numbers would be low and it would be easier to cut him.
IF that is true then it would really be fucked up
Why would they have let DRC play in week 17 when he was a single INT away from a huge bonus if that was the case? This is nonsense.
That they know better from the fan perspective. No fan knows what goes on within a team and organization. No fan sits there and watches game tape. But yet, as you can see from the comments here they clearly can tell you if a guy was open on a play simply based off of the TV broadcast. LOL. Hilarious.
And yes, he scored a TD on one of his 4 catches for 25 yards in that Super Bowl.
But Tiki Barber > Cruz by a long-shot. Barber is easily, far and away not only the best RB that the Giants have ever had, but is the third best offensive player the Giants have ever had, next to Eli Manning and Beckham, and one could make the argument that Beckham hasn't done it for long enough yet to usurp Tiki. Cruz really only gave the Giants one great season, one pretty good season, and one ok season, the last one in 2013. Tiki gave us 1 pretty good season, and 5 spectacular seasons in a row, unprecedented for this franchise.
Tiki got shit on by the fans for answering a question about Eli (truthfully). At that time, Eli hadn't really become the leader of the team, he was still learning a bit how to do that. Tiki was the leader of that offense. All Tiki said was it was kind of comical when Eli would lead the pre-game huddle to fire up everyone. He also said (in the same commentary), which never got any of the press, that he thought Eli could and would step up and be the leader of the team. I watched the whole thing live, 10 years ago, and thought the media-frenzy about it was completely overblown and ridiculous. It was something that the NY media could sell, that's it. They spun it, and it created a life of its own, and blew up. And 10 years later, people still don't get it.
Then Tiki talked about the overbearing policies of Coughlin in that 2006 year. Again, he was not wrong. Perhaps he shouldn't have aired it out, but he was a media figure, it was his job to comment on the Giants. Michael Strahan has said the exact same stuff about Coughlin prior to the '07 season. Yet Strahan is a franchise icon because he stuck around long enough to see Coughlin change the way he interacted with his team. And that directly led to a championship season in '07. The players all of a sudden wanted to play for TC, and he became a father-figure and icon to many of them, rather than just a dictator.
Had Coughlin not made that change (which he did thanks to Judy and his kids telling him he needed to), his Giants history wouldn't have remembered him kindly, we don't win a Super Bowl that year, and he likely doesn't stick around long enough for the second one, and Tiki would have been vindicated for his comments about Coughlin's iron fist.
You can say what you want about Tiki, but he gave the franchise EVERYTHING he had and put the offense on his back for arguably 7 consecutive seasons prior to retirement, and to me he had earned his right to speak his mind.
Tiki is still a great Giant, always has been. Victor isn't even in the same conversation as Tiki in terms of great Giants. Victor is in the "very good Giants, for a little while" conversation.
I always thought the way the fans and media vilified Tiki was and still is stupid! Its like if any former player doesn't sing the praises of their former team in a boot licking kind of way they get attacked.
... damn, this is disappointing.
Love Victor. Hope he gets his house in order.
Pro careers for the best players are brief. Injuries make them shorter. Cruz is a great guy that is facing football oblivion. It's always better when players walk away from the game on their own terms. When they don't you get this.
In a couple of years, despite this noise, and when reality has been digested and accepted, the Giants will have a day for him and he will be remembered for the good times and not the bad. For now, you can only hope he does not do any more damage to his Giant legacy.
Quote:
count your millions, thank the franchise that gave you the opportunity of a lifetime, and move along.
The franchise who ended up with a Super Bowl they almost certainly wouldn't have won without him?
yup, the same one that gave him a shot in the first place and held onto him while he attempted a recovery.
The offense failed to score 20 points in 6/7 games to flame out the season last year iirc.
If Vic was open and didn't get the ball, that would have been the worst kept secret in football.
Like Greg pointed out, coming to grips with the end of a career is never easy.
After his comments on Eli and now this he has burned his bridge. I guess he needs to learn the hard way.
I saw the games and he is done. The league saw the games and no one signed him.
Sad.
He doesn't have to rot. But this shit is stupid. Teams aren't dumb they see what they see. The Giants didn't hold Cruz back from anything. Eli brings out the best in WRs. No one ever leaves Eli and puts up better numbers.
If this is how he will be than good riddance.
Good post, sums up my feelings on him
2. He was not the first or second read for Eli. So, when the O-line is struggling and Eli does not have a lot of time, he is not going to look over at Victor very often.
[quote] and did not find his comments that igrigious.
.... and I have not been a big Victor Cruz apologist lately. He has to be very careful.
Sincerely,
Tiki Barber
Cruz: Make up your own mind -
So apparently people who shop at Marshals are below VC
Seriously, this is incredibly stupid. Does VC really think that McAdoo was risking wins just to prevent VC from getting numbers? Why? It makes no sense.
He is becoming very, very unlikable
Cruz should thank god every day that it was the Giants who signed him as an UDFA. He parlayed that signing into career earnings that make his grandchildren set for life without lifting a finger.
I watched a lot of the all-22 last year. Cruz was never open. Eli even alluded to it a few times during the season. Eli forced some sideline balls to him but unfortunately Cruz lost his lateral quickness that made him great when he hurt his knee in that Eagles game.
Cruz...please please please...take this advice. Keep quiet, move into entertainment if that is what you want, and you will be revered as a great Giant. Nobody will ever forget your 2011 season and what that meant to us, but remember that we root for a uniform and a franchise most of all, and our loyalty is always going to lie there.
His attempted "comeback" smelled like BS the whole time, particularly in 2015 with that "calf" injury. Then last year the org. had to threaten him to get him back on the field.
When this stuff makes it to public consumption, it's the tip of an iceburg.
My goodness... I hate the NFL offseason.
His attempted "comeback" smelled like BS the whole time, particularly in 2015 with that "calf" injury. Then last year the org. had to threaten him to get him back on the field.
When this stuff makes it to public consumption, it's the tip of an iceburg.
You know, usually I'm being over the top when I say these things, but I genuinely loathe you. You're a stain, a walking insult to everyone who posts here.
that being said he did have the 4th amount of targets and receptions on the team. i think the offensive gameplan last year was a disaster. I'd be pissed too,Bobby Rainey had just about as many touches (37) as Cruz (39)
He's way worse than Tiki. Freaking victimhood mentality. Bottom line, he was not open last year, he was not ballin', and maybe he would've been better if he was the slot guy, but Shepard was the man there, and was/is a better option. Cruz has never been a good boundary season, and he wasn't even an adequate one last year.
He is deluded. The best thing for him is to re-establish himself as a good slot receiver, elsewhere.
Never liked this guy, no one has gotten paid for less....millions upon millions for a few good games (and really it wasn't much more than that). And now he's determined to flap his mouth and throw everyone under the bus.
Years of taking muliti million dollar paychecks and doing nothing.
Typically when someone is out of work, publicly talking negatively about your former employer isn't a very good strategy. Maybe say something like...
"I've been a slot WR my whole career and because of the way the roster shaped up last year, it was in the best interest of the team to play me on the outside. It obviously didn't help my numbers, especially coming back from injury, but I'm a team player. And I'm proud of the fact that even with the injuries and even with learning the nuances of playing on the outside, I was able to stick as a starter on an 11-win football team."
82 catches, 1536 yards, 18.7 YPC, 9 TDs. Yeah, a few good games.
But Tiki Barber > Cruz by a long-shot. Barber is easily, far and away not only the best RB that the Giants have ever had, but is the third best offensive player the Giants have ever had, next to Eli Manning and Beckham, and one could make the argument that Beckham hasn't done it for long enough yet to usurp Tiki. Cruz really only gave the Giants one great season, one pretty good season, and one ok season, the last one in 2013. Tiki gave us 1 pretty good season, and 5 spectacular seasons in a row, unprecedented for this franchise.
Tiki got shit on by the fans for answering a question about Eli (truthfully). At that time, Eli hadn't really become the leader of the team, he was still learning a bit how to do that. Tiki was the leader of that offense. All Tiki said was it was kind of comical when Eli would lead the pre-game huddle to fire up everyone. He also said (in the same commentary), which never got any of the press, that he thought Eli could and would step up and be the leader of the team. I watched the whole thing live, 10 years ago, and thought the media-frenzy about it was completely overblown and ridiculous. It was something that the NY media could sell, that's it. They spun it, and it created a life of its own, and blew up. And 10 years later, people still don't get it.
Then Tiki talked about the overbearing policies of Coughlin in that 2006 year. Again, he was not wrong. Perhaps he shouldn't have aired it out, but he was a media figure, it was his job to comment on the Giants. Michael Strahan has said the exact same stuff about Coughlin prior to the '07 season. Yet Strahan is a franchise icon because he stuck around long enough to see Coughlin change the way he interacted with his team. And that directly led to a championship season in '07. The players all of a sudden wanted to play for TC, and he became a father-figure and icon to many of them, rather than just a dictator.
Had Coughlin not made that change (which he did thanks to Judy and his kids telling him he needed to), his Giants history wouldn't have remembered him kindly, we don't win a Super Bowl that year, and he likely doesn't stick around long enough for the second one, and Tiki would have been vindicated for his comments about Coughlin's iron fist.
You can say what you want about Tiki, but he gave the franchise EVERYTHING he had and put the offense on his back for arguably 7 consecutive seasons prior to retirement, and to me he had earned his right to speak his mind.
Tiki is still a great Giant, always has been. Victor isn't even in the same conversation as Tiki in terms of great Giants. Victor is in the "very good Giants, for a little while" conversation.
Quote:
millions upon millions for a few good games (and really it wasn't much more than that).
82 catches, 1536 yards, 18.7 YPC, 9 TDs. Yeah, a few good games.
ONE YEAR!!!!! And yeah, the subsequent 2 seasons were "pretty good." Sorry, he's not an all-time Giant. OBJ has already eclipsed his accomplishments. Toomer far exceeds him. Del Shofner was better than him. Homer Jones was better than him. He's just underneath Plaxico and barely above Nicks (which is debatable) in terms of the best WR's in Giants' history, on a franchise that doesn't have a very storied history of great wide receivers.
Without Victor Cruz, not only do they almost certainly not win a title in 2011, they likely don't even make the playoffs.
his target/catch ratio is pretty much the same EVERY year
the different is previous years he was targeted 132 times on average
last year 72
his target/catch ratio is pretty much the same EVERY year
the different is previous years he was targeted 132 times on average
last year 72
Yeah, last year was 2 years removed from the previous seasons in which he was targeted more. He was, at times, the go-to receiver then. Come on, the 2013 team had Hakeem Nicks, Cruz, and nobody else of note at the receiver position. A second-year Rueben Randle, who wasn't a good player, Louis Murphy and Jerrel Jernigan... please. And he was a slot receiver back in those years, where he excelled. He was never a great boundary receiver (better pre-knee injury). And he had to play boundary receiver last year on a team with OBJ and Shepard. And he didn't get open, so yeah, he should've gotten less targets. Why did the Giants play better when King got more snaps than Cruz out there? There's a reason for that.
IF that is true then it would really be fucked up
IF that is true then it would really be fucked up
Quote:
really bad hearing him say how the organization was using the training staff to fuck with people and keep them off of the field so they do not reach their incentives. The idea that he was open and that he did not get the ball so his numbers would be low and it would be easier to cut him.
IF that is true then it would really be fucked up
Why would they have let DRC play in week 17 when he was a single INT away from a huge bonus if that was the case? This is nonsense.
Well, that is why I said "IF" it is true.
It's as simple as that little saying you tell children; "when you point a finger at someone else you have three fingers pointing back at yourself".
Take the high road.
But Tiki Barber > Cruz by a long-shot. Barber is easily, far and away not only the best RB that the Giants have ever had, but is the third best offensive player the Giants have ever had, next to Eli Manning and Beckham, and one could make the argument that Beckham hasn't done it for long enough yet to usurp Tiki. Cruz really only gave the Giants one great season, one pretty good season, and one ok season, the last one in 2013. Tiki gave us 1 pretty good season, and 5 spectacular seasons in a row, unprecedented for this franchise.
Tiki got shit on by the fans for answering a question about Eli (truthfully). At that time, Eli hadn't really become the leader of the team, he was still learning a bit how to do that. Tiki was the leader of that offense. All Tiki said was it was kind of comical when Eli would lead the pre-game huddle to fire up everyone. He also said (in the same commentary), which never got any of the press, that he thought Eli could and would step up and be the leader of the team. I watched the whole thing live, 10 years ago, and thought the media-frenzy about it was completely overblown and ridiculous. It was something that the NY media could sell, that's it. They spun it, and it created a life of its own, and blew up. And 10 years later, people still don't get it.
Then Tiki talked about the overbearing policies of Coughlin in that 2006 year. Again, he was not wrong. Perhaps he shouldn't have aired it out, but he was a media figure, it was his job to comment on the Giants. Michael Strahan has said the exact same stuff about Coughlin prior to the '07 season. Yet Strahan is a franchise icon because he stuck around long enough to see Coughlin change the way he interacted with his team. And that directly led to a championship season in '07. The players all of a sudden wanted to play for TC, and he became a father-figure and icon to many of them, rather than just a dictator.
Had Coughlin not made that change (which he did thanks to Judy and his kids telling him he needed to), his Giants history wouldn't have remembered him kindly, we don't win a Super Bowl that year, and he likely doesn't stick around long enough for the second one, and Tiki would have been vindicated for his comments about Coughlin's iron fist.
You can say what you want about Tiki, but he gave the franchise EVERYTHING he had and put the offense on his back for arguably 7 consecutive seasons prior to retirement, and to me he had earned his right to speak his mind.
Tiki is still a great Giant, always has been. Victor isn't even in the same conversation as Tiki in terms of great Giants. Victor is in the "very good Giants, for a little while" conversation.