Friday Transcript: WR Victor Cruz

WR Victor Cruz

October 2, 2015

Q: There was a report out that you had gotten a PRP injection, is that so? When did you get it?

A: Yeah, I got it yesterday. I went over to the Hospital for Special Surgery and got that done. Hopefully it’s able to make me feel better, and hopefully advance the recovery process in any way, shape, or form.

Q: Did they give you an idea how that changes the timetable?

A: They did not. Probably going to last throughout the weekend, then come in Monday, see how it feels, see what happens from there. I won’t know anything up until then.

Q: Was Wednesday a situation where you feel like you aggravated something and it wasn’t ready or is there any worry that you caused further damage?

A: No, according to the MRI, it didn’t cause any further damage. It wasn’t as bad as the initial aggravation I suffered to the calf, so that’s a positive. It just felt like something that when I was out there and I felt good, I didn’t feel any issues, I didn’t feel any problems leading in. But when I went to burst and explode was when I felt it. The minute I felt it, I went over to the side and told the training staff how I felt and things like that. They immediately just shut me down. It was something that happened kind of throughout the practice, nothing beforehand, nothing felt like it wasn’t ready because I didn’t have any pain.

Q: This must be a big blow for you.

A: Yeah. Obviously, not just physically but emotionally, too. You gear up for that moment when you want to be ready to play and ready to go out there and perform and you have another setback. Hopefully it’s the last setback. I’m going to continue to work hard, I’m going to continue to be the same person I am in regards to my work ethic and the strength it takes to get back and to physically go in that rehab room and do that work you need to do in order to succeed and get back on the field. That’s never going to falter. So it’s unfortunate, but it’s something that I have to look forward to and turn it into a positive.

Q: Coach was just asked if they were thinking about IR for you and he said no. Does that give you something to kind of hold your hat on?

A: Yeah. I mean, obviously, this team, this coaching staff, they believe in me. And they’ve believed in me since I walked through this door and I showed them my ability. I want to give that back to them. I want to be out there and I want to play and they understand how much I want to play and how much I love this game. I want to just continue to prove that, continue to do what I need to do from a rehabilitation standpoint, and then see where it takes me.

Q: You said it happened when you had that burst or explosion. Was that the first time you had tried that? You said you ran routes a couple days earlier.

A: Yeah, I had run routes a few days ago, some intermediate stuff, and it felt good. I think that specific day, the training staff didn’t want to open me up all the way. But in terms of that, it felt good that day. I didn’t feel any pain, I was making cuts, I was going left and right even if it was just three-quarters speed. But the day I ran routes during individuals was the first time I really opened up and that’s when I felt it, yeah.

Q: Going forward, do you have to take that as a lesson, I assume? Even though if you feel good, maybe take even longer just because of the nature of the injury?

A: Yeah. I mean, it’s all relative to how you feel. It’s all relative to you feel good, you want to be out there and play. You want to test it, you want to see how it feels, and you want to see how much you can physically do on it. It’s tough to kind of gauge those two things, whether you go out there and test things out or wait a while and come back. As a competitor and athlete, once you feel good, you want to go out and test it out and play. You don’t want to be in here feeling like you’re not doing the right thing. So it’s all relative to your injury. I’m going to make sure I take my time with this one this go around and see how that fairs for me this time around.

Q: Is there a point where you sit there and go to yourself, “Is this ever going to get right?”

A: Yeah, man. I’m sitting down and I look up last night in the bedroom, like, “This has got to end. I’m tired of looking at reporters every day. I’d rather be looking at green grass and number lines on the field.” You know what I mean? I haven’t lost faith, I know that my time is going to come. When that time is, is still up in the air. But I know my time will come back here in a blue uniform with the New York Giants.

Q: What’s the next step if you could tell us what they want in terms of do you just rest it now? Do you ice it? What do you do?

A: I think it’s rest right now. Obviously with this shot, you can’t ice it or get it wet or anything like that in terms of drenching it into let’s say a pool or something like that. So I have to wait a couple days, let the blood kind of go through that muscle, go through that area. And then come back in a few days, preferably Monday, and see where we go from there. So yeah, that’s all the info I’ve gotten.

Q: Was the injection recommended by the training staff and what ended up leading to the decision to have it?

A: Well, they asked the doctors and the doctors had a conversation with the training staff and they said it’d be something that wouldn’t hurt. It wouldn’t hurt the muscle, it wouldn’t hurt anything, and if anything, it would make it feel better or it would be nothing. It would be whatever the same process it would be going through if I didn’t take the shot. It didn’t hurt to get it done, so I decided to get it done, I gave them the okay to do it. Everything went smoothly. Me having a number one fear of needles probably wasn’t the best decision for me at the time, but after it was done, it was all better.

Q: Was this ever in consideration a month ago or anything like that?

A: No, not necessarily. It was never brought up at the time. I think we felt like we could rehab it and get it stronger and with time, it would be back to 100 percent. At the time, it wasn’t on the table.

Q: Any encouragement from the fact that this isn’t as bad as the initial injury?

A: Absolutely. Obviously there’s a silver lining in everything, and I think that’s it. And that just gives me the continued confidence to get back to 100 percent, continue to be diligent in the rehab process, and see where this goes.

Q: What do you do with the knee in the mean time? How do you keep that up again?

A: Continue to keep it stronger. Technically, at least for a couple days, I’ll be on my right knee now, so my right leg. So I’ll continue to get that one stronger, do some exercises, continue to do the cardio whichever I can just to keep my wind up and things like that. The progress continues one way or another.

Q: At this point it’s fair to say the beginning of next week, hopefully Monday, you’ll come back here and you guys will assess how things look coming out of the injection?

A: Yes, absolutely. I think the doctors come in Monday, they usually come in the day after the game to check on guys and see how guys are feeling if there were any ailments throughout the game. So that’s when I’ll see the doctors as well, and we’ll see how that goes.