The NY Giants have Victor Cruz out of practice with an injury and while it's not the knee he had surgery on that is giving him issues, his return is unknown and head coach Tom Coughlin is "concerned" about the calf injury and this comes as Rueben Randle has returned to practice, while Cruz accused the Jaguars of targeting Odell Beckham in Saturday's preseason game.
The Giants have been very careful with Cruz all offseason as he comes back from knee surgery and things had been going very well with his recovery. Cruz was expected to start the season in Week 1 healthy with his knee, but NFL.com reports that Cruz is now also dealing with a calf issue. The report says that Cruz was kept out of practice this week and he was held out of the preseason game against the Jaguars. Cruz also added that he thought that Jaguars were "targeting" Odell Beckham and trying to rough him up during the preseason game Saturday.
Head coach Tom Coughlin said that the injury has him "concerned," as he had hoped to get Cruz in action over the past week leading into the start of the season. Cruz was held out for most of offseason workouts and training camp practices for his knee and he had previously been "speeding along" in his record from surgery, according to NFL.com. Cruz is officially "day-to-day" for the moment per Coughlin and the coach said he hopes that when Cruz gets on the field he can "stay out there."
Cruz likely will sit out for the game against the Jets unless he shows some major progress in the next day or two. Cruz said that he is "not concerned" about his knee and that it has not been bothering him and he also downplayed the calf injury to reporters, saying he can "deal with the calf." If it was the regular season there is a chance that Cruz would play. Although the Giants lost one receiver, Randle is ready to return to practice sometime this week, according to ESPN.com.
Randle had been dealing with knee tendinitis and the wideout said that he is expecting to play against the Jets in the preseason game on Saturday. Randle has not been able to work out since mid-August and while he is not assured to play against the Jets, coming back to practice gives him a chance to get things going. Randle is coming in after a big season with 71 catches for 938 yards and he could have been even better if he did not deal with some drops. Randle should take another step this season and if he doesn't that is a major issue, especially if Cruz is not fully healthy.
The Giants have also had some major issues at safety and on the offensive line this summer, as the team is down a number of players in the secondary already. Mykkele Thompson is out for the season and Bennett Jackson just went down and that came after Nat Berhe and Landon Collins were banged up.
Check here for more on the status of the wide receivers for the Giants or for more on Cruz.
