Giants receiver Victor Cruz caught six passes in Wednesday night’s loss to the Cowboys, but he also dropped three passes, and after the game he acknowledged that his own poor play was one of the reasons the defending Super Bowl champions lost their opener.
“There’s no excuses for me,” Cruz said. “I have to catch those footballs.”
Dropped passes aren’t an official NFL statistic, but by one count Cruz had at least 10 of them last year. Giants coach Tom Coughlin acknowledged after the game that that’s a problem.
“Victor sometimes has concentration lapses where he tries to run before he catches the ball,” Coughlin said. “It was just a concentration lapse and something he’s got to continue to work on.”
Cruz was also the subject of much of the discussion surrounding the NFL’s replacement officials. He was flagged once for an illegal block in the back and once for a false start, and Cowboys cornerback Orlando Scandrick appeared to get away with holding Cruz near the goal line. Cruz wasn’t happy about that one.
“I obviously thought I got held,” Cruz said. “I guess the refs didn’t think so.”
Both Cruz and the officials have things they need to work on.