Jerry Rice likes Giants' new offense - "He has all the tools to be a monster in this offense."Quote
Hours after hearing the West Coast offense was coming to North Jersey with Ben McAdoo’s imminent hire as Giants’ offensive coordinator this past winter, Cruz grabbed his iPad and proceeded to set the bar as high as he could.
The Giants’ wide receiver began studying video of Hall of Famer Jerry Rice, considered by many the greatest to play the position in the NFL within that same offensive scheme popularized by another Hall of Famer in Bill Walsh with the 1980s San Francisco 49ers.
"The best there is," Cruz said of Rice. "If you’re a student of the game, there’s no better player to learn how to be a receiver in this offense, so I watched as much as I could find."
Cruz is going to like what his virtual teacher had to say about his West Coast potential.
Because Rice has his own expectations of what Cruz can do in the Giants’ new offense, and he told The Record to anticipate even bigger things for the Paterson native than what anyone has seen.
"Victor Cruz, to me, is a great receiver," Rice said in a recent telephone interview. "Can be explosive. Runs good routes. Can make adjustments. He can make difficult catches. This system is only going to help his game more.
"He has all the tools to be a monster in this offense."
Such a prediction may seem far-fetched on the heels of an unproductive preseason for the entire Giants offense, which managed just three touchdowns in 19 series with Eli Manning, who threw one touchdown in five preseason games.
But Rice echoes the sentiment being expressed by the Giants that, despite the sputtering done by the offense this summer, patience with the playbook and the performance could pay off with increased production.
"There are going to be growing pains in this offense," Rice said. "The players are going to start feeling their chemistry, though. It’s going to become automatic. It’s going to be like, ‘OK, how does Eli anticipate throwing that pass before Victor Cruz comes out of his route?’ All the stuff comes together through practice and repetition over and over on the field. It could happen before the first regular-season game, it could happen Week 5, but they’re gonna know when that chemistry is there and from that point on, they’re just gonna go out and play."
Cruz talked in the spring about eyeing 100 catches – his career-best mark is 86, established two seasons ago – and Rice eclipsed the century mark four times in his illustrious 10-time All-Pro career.
Steve Smith holds the Giants’ record with 107 catches in 2009 – the only receiver in team history to reach 100 – while Cruz holds the franchise record for yardage with 1,536 in 2011. He also had 10 TDs in 2012.
The key to Cruz’s success, Rice promises, will be creativity.
"He’s a young puppy and this new wrinkle is really gonna open up the offense for him because of his versatility," Rice said. "I always thought the West Coast gave you the opportunity to just be creative – it’s like your own playground because you don’t have too much thinking. You can just go out and play."
Rice lined up on the outside for much of his career, although many of his routes brought him in motion to the slot – where Cruz plays extensively — or sent him on plenty of crossers through the middle of the defense.
"He mastered the offense and took it to another level, so I just wanted to pick up anything I can from watching Jerry and the way he played with what they would do," Cruz said. "His sense of urgency on certain plays – he knew when to go fast and when to kind of temper it down, slow it down — just to get open as quickly as possible. There are so many different route combinations; you just worry about getting open, how to get in those vacant areas. That’s where I plan on making my home."
The comforts of which will afford Cruz the opportunity to take his game to another level.
"The players are going to feel more comfortable with everything in time: the offensive line, running backs, receivers, obviously the quarterback," Rice said. "You’re gonna know when you are ready to go out there and dominate the opponent, that there’s no way a defense can shut you down. It takes time, but when it clicks, you can dictate what you want to do to that defense, and I see Victor Cruz becoming one of those guys."
http://www.northjersey.com/sports/football/giants/west-coast-story-1.1078614This post was edited by xnozx. on Sep 1 2014 12:07pm