Before the Giants kick off the season on Monday in Detroit, Post columnist Steve Serby caught up with receiver Victor Cruz for some Q&A.
Q: Would you like to rival the career of Derek Jeter as far as being with one team?
A: Obviously, he’s had a great career, and more power to him. He’s done things that I can only imagine doing in my short time so far. … He set the standard for what it is to be a New York athlete, and I want to be that, I want to be close to that. I want to be an Allen Iverson, I want to be a Kobe Bryant, I want to be … you know, guys that have stayed with their teams for the duration of their careers. I think that’s a lot to be said to the organization, and the loyalty that the player has in that team. I think it’s something that I have, extreme loyalty to this team, and I think I want that to continue for a long time.
Q: What’s it like being a New York star/celebrity?
A: (Laugh). I hate that term, but I guess it kinda comes with the territory. It’s fun. … You go out, you can’t walk down a city block without someone recognizing you. It’s a ton of fun, man, I enjoy meeting people, fans, some that aren’t fans, I enjoy meeting them. It’s always a good time.
Q: Are there times when you wish you had more privacy?
A: Sometimes. … There’s times when I’m with my family and my daughter and my mom and things like that, and I just kinda want to have a moment of just us and things like that, but for the most part, people are respectful of that. But there’s certain instances where people come up and want pictures and stuff like that, and I accommodate them. I’m not the guy that says, “Go away.” But subconsciously, there’s certain things that you want, you wish you just had some privacy with your family, but it’s not something that I regret or anything like that. It comes with the territory so I accept it.
Q: You mean sometimes at dinner they’ll come up and…
A: Yes. Or at the park, or at the zoo, or stuff like that.
Q: Your daughter Kennedy is 2 ¹/₂. Is she aware that you’re a football player?
A: (Smile) She’s aware that I play football. She’s aware that she can see me on television. She’s aware of the Giants. She even does the “Let’s go Giants” chant. She’s very smart, so she gets it. Obviously, she doesn’t get the magnitude of it, but she understands that Daddy plays football.
Q: Does she salsa?
A: She does do her version of a salsa dance.
Q: After you score a touchdown?
A: We give her a cue, “Do the salsa,” and she does it (laugh).
Q: What’s it like watching her grow up?
A: It’s amazing, man, just to see her grow and to see … people say this all the time, they grow so fast, and it’s almost every day they’re learning something new and doing something new. She says full sentences to me, she gets emotional, she has highs and lows of her personality’s starting to come out. It’s just really fun to see that, and I enjoy every moment with her.
Q: Giants coach Tom Coughlin turns 68 Sunday.
A: I think he’s getting younger every year, man (smile). I firmly believe he’s got a lot left in the tank. He loves the game. You can tell he loves being around us — we’re essentially his second family at this point. You can just see the passion he still has for this game, and I think it rubs off on all of us.
Q: The most recent quote he’s given the team?
A: “Humble enough to prepare and confident enough to perform.” That’s one that kinda just sticks with me, even off the field. If you humble yourself enough to no matter where you are in your career, where you are in life to prepare and to do the due diligence and do your homework — whether it be on the field, whether it be as a sports reporter, whether it be as a father, whether it be as a husband — I think if you’re humble enough to prepare yourself for those things, you can be confident enough to perform.
Q: Why shouldn’t Giants fans be concerned about Eli Manning?
A: They shouldn’t be concerned about Eli because he’s as confident as ever. On the practice field he’s confident, he understands what this offense can do. He’s extremely confident in what his receivers can do.
Q: What have you learned about new Giants cornerback, and former Seahawk, Walter Thurmond III?
A: Smart player, very athletic, and really understands how to play the position of nickel corner
Q: Would he be on your All-Cruz fashion team on the Giants?
A: He would be.
Q: Who else would be?
A: [Jason Pierre-Paul] would be. … Antrel Rolle would be. … I think that’s about it.
Q: What do you have to do to make the All-Cruz fashion team?
A: What you’d have to do is, 1) Wear clothes that fit. But for the most part, those guys understand their own personal style. They understand what they like to wear, they don’t care about what other people say about what they wear.
Q: Describe your personal style.
A: My personal style is extremely chic, male chic, if you will. And just confident. I think I’m confident in anything that I wear. I don’t care about what anyone says about clothing, I feel like of this is what I like to wear and I’m confident in it, that’s what I like to wear.
Q: If the world was going to end tomorrow, describe the outfit you would pick.
A: The outfit would have to be a Tom Ford-tailored suit. It would probably be a black tie suit with a bow tie, patent leather shoes, glasses, Rolex watch, bracelet. It would be the full nine yards. I gotta be dressed head to toe if I know the world’s gonna end tomorrow.
Q: I read an interview where you said you would like to go back to the ’70s. Why?
A: No one cared about how you looked, everyone just wanted to have fun. It was OK to be out in the streets and have fun. Guys weren’t getting shot in broad daylight like that. … It just seemed like such a fun time. Any movie you see, any time period you go back to, the ’70s are always so much fun and everyone was just having a good time. For some reason, I just want to go back to that time and see what it was really like and live in that moment.
Q: Which people in football history would you want to meet?
A: I’d want to go back and meet Walter Payton. I met Barry Sanders, but I want to just go back when he was Barry, for Detroit. I want to meet Jerry [Rice] back when he was Jerry, [Joe] Montana when he was in his era, [Troy] Aikman, Michael Irvin when he was 23 years old playing for the Cowboys. I would want to talk to them when they were that age, and how they acted, and what things were going through their mind and things like that.
Q: What’s Jay Z like?
A: Jay Z is calm, cool, collected. You rarely see him get upset. He’s always very assertive in what he talks about, very assertive in the things that he knows. He’s just cool, man, he gives it to you straight, and he doesn’t sugarcoat anything … somebody you can talk to if you need something or if you want to just talk to him.
Q: What do see ahead when you reach life after football?
A: God willing, I would love to act. I want to be an actor, I want to be in shows, I want to produce shows, I want to be still around the game in some sort any way, shape or form, but I want to bring it to another level.
Q: You’re a pitchman for Hugo Boss.
A: I’m in the fall/winter campaign for Hugo Boss Men, Hugo Boss fragrances, all Macy’s in the U.S. You’ll see big billboards of myself, Clay Matthews and DeMarcus Ware, so go out there and pick yourself up a bottle of Hugo Boss fragrance. The fragrance is very chic, very casual, something that you can wear to work, or you can wear it out on the weekend, it’s very versatile, and it just smells great and it definitely will get the ladies to notice you a little bit, too.
Q: Describe cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie.
A: DRC’s extremely fast, extremely athletic, understands routes before they happen … a very cerebral player when it comes to running deep routes. He knows when you’re running a deep route, he knows tendencies, he really picks up on that really quickly.
Q: Zack Bowman.
A: Zack Bowman is more of a bigger, physical corner, likes to get his hands on, plays the ball extremely well. He’s a guy that’s learned a lot from [Charles] “Peanut” Tillman in Chicago, and you can see a little bit of that in his game.
Q: Linebacker Jameel McClain.
A: Jameel McClain is a guy that’s extremely vocal, you heat him whether he’s on the field or not, and extremely fast, plays the ball well, can read the difference between run and pass extremely quickly, and a really cerebral player as well.
Q: Running back Rashad Jennings.
A: Rashad Jennings is extremely fast, understands how to hit the hole straightforward, can hit the long run as you can see for a touchdown … has the body style to really make guys miss, and no arm tackle’s gonna get him down.
Q: Offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo.
A: Ben McAdoo is an extremely smart guy, offensively understands exactly what he wants to get from his players, and really works hard at understanding his players and what he has from a personnel standpoint — more than forcing the offense on the players, more like putting the players in position to make plays in the offense.
Q: How much different will this offense be in the season opener in Detroit?
A: Extremely different, because you’ll see more of us, you’ll see more of Eli getting into a groove. I think you’ll see more of the second quarter of the Jets game than you did on the first quarter of the Buffalo game. So I think it’s a matter of us getting comfortable and really seeing what the defense is giving us, making adjustments, getting into the flow of the game more of what you’ll see come Monday night.
Q: Giants fans are in panic mode.
A: I understand that 100 percent. It’s warranted, obviously, for what they’ve seen out there so far, but I think there’s a lot out there that’s still left to be seen, and I think you’ll see it on Monday night.
Q: This offense fits you better because … ?
A: I think this offense fits me better because it allows me to have the ball in my hands earlier so I can make some things happen. I think a lot of the plays in [Kevin] Gilbride’s offense was to get me the ball down the field or to get me to have the big play. But I think this one wants to give me the ball earlier, so I can get that ball and see defenders coming and make guys miss and then make the big play happen.
Q: You’ll be moving around a lot?
A: Yeah, I think I’ll be moving around more than I ever had inside, outside, motioning, all that kinda stuff, which is fun, which I’m welcoming.
Q: But is being a marked man fun?
A: It’s not fun. But I guess it’s good to kinda have that respect in a sense that defenses are cluing in on you and making you a part of their game plan. You gotta work hard to get open, but that’s what you play this game for, is to work hard and get yourself out there and get yourself the ball.
Q: How many balls can you catch this year in this offense?
A: I think in this offense anywhere from 90-plus to 100. I think that’s definitely realistic in this offense, and I’m gonna work hard for that, because I know it’s an attainable goal for sure.
Q: Was your offseason training any different?
A: No, it was kinda the same. I gained a little bit more weight. I’m coming in at like 209, 210 consistently now. Last year I was around 205, 206, and I’m still fast, still keeping my flexibility. I guess I just want to be prepared for continuing that life in the trenches in between the tackles and in between those linebackers and stuff like that for those hits so I can accept those and keep on truckin’.
Q: If your life story was a movie, what would be a good title?
A: It’s gotta be “From the Rough,” or something like that, because I came through so much, I had to battle through so much adversity that I had to come from that rough in order to get to where I am today, so I think it’s gotta pay homage to that struggle and that grind.
Q: Are you proud of what you’ve accomplished?
A: Absolutely. I think a lot of guys that would be in my shoes probably would have just given up and failed and said, “Screw it, I’ll just go do something else,” but the fact that I had enough resiliency and my family members pushed me enough to keep going, to keep pushing, I think it says a lot about my character and it says a lot about my family.
Q: How do you see the NFC East?
A: It’s kinda all over the place right now. … As usual, I think it’s gonna come down to the very end. It always comes down to who wants it the most.
Q: How badly do the Giants want it?
A: We want it extremely bad. Not making the playoffs two straight years is not something that we want to get used to at all, so we want to make sure that we understand that and we’re coming out with that in mind each and every week.
Q: Is this a closer team than previous teams?
A: I believe so. We do a lot of things together. We do a lot of things that in years past that we haven’t done, off the field — like get together in the hotel room and just sit around and kick it, play cards and talk about different things. And there’s groups of us, it’s not just like certain batches of groups that are here, it’s all of us together just talking and doing different things, which is new for us, I don’t think I’ve seen anything like that in my short time here.
Q: Every team in the league at this point thinks they can win a Super Bowl. Why does this team think it can?
A: I think because, as I said before, this is the closest team I’ve seen in a long time. I think this is one of the most talented teams I’ve seen from top to bottom at every position. And if everyone stays healthy and everyone’s on the same page, I think this team can go a long way.
Q: How’s the talent on this team compared to the Super Bowl XLVI team?
A: I think the Super Bowl XVLIII team obviously had a ton of talent, but we hit our stride at the right time, we came together at the right time. I think this team that we have now, if we come together now, it’ll supplement us throughout the year and we can really make some things happen during the regular season, and into the playoffs.
Q: How often do you wear your Super Bowl ring?
A: I kinda look at it every now and again, but I don’t wear it as often, because I feel like if I wear it, I’ll get complacent and I’ll get comfortable. I never want to get comfortable, I always want to strive and get more. I want more rings, I want more accolades for this team. I want to win championships.
Q: Do you really in your heart believe this is a Super Bowl team?
A: I think this is a Super Bowl team. I think this is a team that’s capable of making it to the Super Bowl and it’s just a matter of us jelling together and continuing to mold relationships and friendships together on the same page and getting our offense on the same page and defensively getting the things that they have to take care of, and us molding together offense, defense and special teams.