NFL

Cruz, Nicks no factor in Giants loss

(Getty Images)

NO FUN: It was a painful game for the Giants’ offense, especially for top wideouts Victor Cruz and Hakeem Nicks (inset). (
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On a third-and-seven play yesterday during the Giants’ first drive of the second half, Eli Manning tried to hit Victor Cruz over the middle. But Manning led his receiver too far, and the ball smacked off Cruz’s outstretched hand, forcing the Giants to kick a field goal.

“A little bit,” Cruz said of having some miscommunication with Manning. “Just one or two miscues.”

Maybe just one or two miscues, but there were way more worrisome things than that when it came to both Cruz and fellow star wideout Hakeem Nicks. In the Giants’ 24-20 loss to the Steelers at MetLife Stadium, Cruz was targeted 11 times but caught just five passes for 67 yards.

Nicks’ game was even more alarming. The Giants’ No. 1 wideout was targeted only four times all afternoon, and he hauled in just one pass for 10 yards. Nicks never has been shut out in his four-season NFL career, but yesterday was close. It marked Nicks’ second-least productive game, behind only his final game as a rookie when he caught one pass for minus-five yards against the Vikings.

Told that he didn’t appear to be targeted much yesterday, Nicks said, “It’s been like that, though, the last few weeks.”

Indeed, in his last four games, Nicks has caught a total of just 13 passes for 153 yards. For comparison’s sake, in the last game he played before this four-game run, back in Week 2, Nicks caught 10 passes for 199 yards versus the Buccaneers.

“Offensively we’ve just got to get it going again,” Nicks said. “We’ve just got to pick it up offensively.”

Meanwhile, since his game-winning, 77-yard touchdown pass against the Redskins two weeks ago, Cruz has had issues. Against Dallas last week, he caught only two passes for 23 yards.

“Last week was not a good game for Victor, and we didn’t get ourselves open,” coach Tom Coughlin said. “We put a lot of attention toward that [yesterday] and we still didn’t get a whole lot of daylight. We will have to look at that.”