Victor flashes speed, Giants prefer he Cruz

VICTOR CRUZ can’t shake Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie on Saturday, can’t create separation from the cornerback, and then he fails to make a desperate, onehanded catch on a pass from Eli Manning. But wait… Soon, Cruz catches a sideline throw, gives a patented jump-hop cutback that fakes Trumaine McBride out of his spikes after a 20yard catch.

“It was almost subconscious — made him miss, and then take it up the sideline,” Cruz said, smiling. “It came naturally.” On a drill. In training camp. That’s all we get to see from Cruz right now, and frankly it isn’t enough to know whether the new Cruz is as deadly as the old Cruz. He is being held back from real competition, against his will, yet for his own good. He understands that it is for his own good that he won’t play against the Bengals on Friday, and perhaps sit out all preseason games.

“I would love some kind of tuneup work, feel the speed,” he said. “You want to go to battle with teammates. But they don’t want me over-competitive, going crazy. I told them I wouldn’t.”

That assurance wasn’t enough for Tom Coughlin and the Giants. It’s a tough wait for everyone. There is a necessary obsession around training camp these days with both Cruz and Jason Pierre-Paul, because this is not a team with a lot of highprofile stars. You can put Odell Beckham, Eli Manning, Pierre-Paul and Cruz all into that category — when they’re healthy. That’s about it.

Cruz, of course, is more than a receiver. He’s a great story, a life force. The Paterson native plays the game with an abundance of joy and élan. His style transcends any occasion. Madonna copy-catted his samba at the Super Bowl, which is all you have to know about this man’s popularity.

There is plenty of motivation for the coaching staff to get Cruz back on the field, contributing in one fashion or another. There is also understandable caution. Why add four more meaningless games to the burden on his knee and risk a debilitating injury in the preseason?

“He’ll practice,” Coughlin said Saturday. “Whether or not he’ll play, we’ll see. He’s moving along very well.”

We remember all too clearly the moment that changed the Giants’ depth chart: Cruz went down last October in the far corner of the end zone on a fourth down leap against the Eagles, clutching his right knee. It was a season-ending, career-threatening injury, a torn patellar tendon. He was gone after six games.

Then just as quickly, it seemed, the rookie Beckham emerged as a superstar receiver, and Cruz all but disappeared from sight, relegated to sidebar status.

He may soon reclaim bigger headlines. Unlike other players in the past who have undergone similar knee surgery, Cruz hasn’t required rest days during training camp. He’s impressed teammates on both sides of the ball.

“He’s good. Fast, quick still,” said McBride, who has been covering Cruz a lot during drills at camp. “He’s got the hands.”

The hands, we know, are still the same. It is the knee that concerns everyone. Cruz’s greatest strength in the past has been his ability to change directions in a fluid, unflinching manner that baffled corners and safeties. The knee is the pivot joint on all those moves.

There is also the question of whether Cruz and Beckham can become an effective tandem, or whether Coughlin will eventually employ Cruz as something of a backup. There have been glimpses of stacked, wide-out formations during camp, and Cruz insists that he and Beckham — recovering from hamstring problems — will drive defenses batty when they’re on the field together.

“We can play together,” Cruz said. “In this offense, his stretching the field, my play between the hashes, it gives defenses a lot to have to hang onto weekend to weekend.”

The Giants’ schedule this season is not particularly difficult, Then again, they have a lot to prove after a 6-10 season. Two of their first three games are at home against beatable Atlanta and Washington, so it would behoove Coughlin to get off to a fast start.

Cruz may be a part of that, or he may not. His receiving yardage has decreased every season since 2011, in large part because of injuries. He says when he watches the films of his practices now, he sees the old Cruz.

“I see a guy who still has some pop,” Cruz said. “I just haven’t let it all out of the bag yet.”