DAYLIGHT VICTOR: Victor Cruz sprints away from William Gay (left) and Troy Polamalu for a touchdown that, along with rookie Damontre Moore’s blocked punt (inset), highlighted the Giants’ 18-13 win over the Steelers to open the preseason. (
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PITTSBURGH — The word used by Tom Coughlin early in training camp to describe Victor Cruz was “rusty.’’ After all, the star wideout missed everything the Giants did this offseason, staying away because he didn’t have a contract.
Well, Cruz has a contract and now he no longer has the rust. Not after he came up with one of the few memorable plays on offense in last night’s 18-13 preseason-opening victory over the Steelers at Heinz Field.
“It’s funny, Coach Coughlin came up to me before the game and said, ‘I saw you shook some of the rust off these last couple of days in practice, you look really good,’ ’’ Cruz said. “I guess that was an indicator that I’ve officially knocked off all the rust.’’
“That’’ was a vintage hookup with Eli Manning, the sort of eruption that got Cruz a six-year, $45.879 million deal. It came with 1:10 left in the first quarter with the game tied at 3-3 and the Giants not doing much of anything with the ball. That all changed on third-and-4 from the Giants’ 43-yard line.
Cruz, asked to run a seam route, expertly noticed that safety Troy Polamalu was “crashing down,’’ expecting a different route. Cruz made a move to the outside, hauled in the pass at the Steelers’ 30-yard line and out-ran safety Ryan Clark to the end zone.
“I think [Polamalu] was thinking I was going to break off the route, so I just went vertical and Eli threw a great pass to me that I was able to take in for the touchdown,’’ Cruz said. “It’s great to be on the same page with your quarterback, and Eli and I work hard on that. When things are clicking, you really get the results you want.”
After he scored, Cruz started his trademark salsa celebration, then waved his hands and cut short the dance.
“Yeah, it’s just preseason, so I didn’t want to two-step, I didn’t want to give it the full gambit just yet just because it’s the preseason,’’ Cruz said. “The salsa is still going strong.’’
Otherwise, it was a brief and nondescript outing for Manning (2-of-5, 73 yards, one TD). He failed to connect with an open Rueben Randle on a deep ball, but did find Randle on a 16-yard hookup. It was a quiet night for David Wilson (five carries, 16 yards) and a rough one for Andre Brown, who fumbled a pitch-out for a turnover that didn’t sit well with Coughlin. The first teammate to console Brown on the bench was Wilson, the second-year back who knows what it’s like to lose the ball and then lose the coach’s confidence.
“His eyes were never on the ball,’’ Coughlin said. “He looked at the rush. That was disappointing.’’
The Giants went back to Brown on their next play from scrimmage and he actually ran well to finish with 23 yards on four carries.
The main thrust of the offseason was improving the shoddy run defense, and the first real test was not encouraging. The Steelers, without rookie running back Le’Veon Bell, ripped through the Giants, pounding away with LaRod Stephens-Howling (7-40).
“They ran the ball on us right off the bat,’’ Coughlin said.
Still, the lone Steelers touchdown came on defense, when a bad fourth-quarter shotgun snap by novice center Matt McCants was recovered in the end zone.
The Giants got big plays from rookie defensive end Damontre Moore, who buzzed around with pass-rush pressure and made a huge play on special teams, storming in to block Drew Butler’s punt. Louis Murphy scooped the ball up on the Pittsburgh 13-yard line and ran it to the 5.
“It was all surprising to me,’’ Moore said. “I just ran in and got a little hitch step and I was there to make a play.’’
No doubt Coughlin had an ear-to-ear grin for that special teams play, but the smile turned upside down when his starting offense didn’t get a single yard on three plays and settled for Josh Brown’s 23-yard field goal to take a 3-0 lead. It was a failure reminiscent of the 2012 Giants, who settled for too many short field goals.
“That first drive was disappointing, getting the ball on the 5-yard line and not converting. Having to settle for a field goal is never good,’’ Manning said. “We will have to look at that.’’