http://espn.go.com/new-york/nfl/sto...-york-giants-says-needs-more-involved-offense
the audacity of this fukkNEW YORK -- A day after the New York Giants' opening-night debacle, Victor Cruz offered a suggestion for how to improve the team's struggling offense.
"In order for us to be successful I think there needs to be an increased number of targets in my direction," Cruz said, on a conference call with reporters. "And other playmakers' directions, just like Rueben Randle as well, in my opinion."
Victor Cruz, held to two catches in the opener, says he needs to get the ball in order for the Giants to be successful.
Cruz was targeted just six times in the Giants' 35-14 loss to the Detroit Lions, and finished with just two catches for 24 yards. Randle, the Giants' other starting wide receiver, was targeted just three times, and finished with just two catches for one yard.
Inexperienced tight end Larry Donnell and third wide receiver Jerrel Jernigan were targeted eight and seven times, respectively, in a game in which quarterback Eli Manning threw for just 163 yards and was intercepted twice.
The Giants' first-team offense, under new coordinator Ben McAdoo, played poorly throughout the preseason, and looked no better Monday night in Detroit.
They rushed for just 53 yards on 22 carries, and finished with 197 total yards - less than half the amount accumulated by the Lions (417).
"Honestly I did think that those problems would be over -- I thought we would be able to get into a little bit of rhythm, mainly because we were playing a full four quarters," Cruz said. "It's unfortunate we didn't come out and have that rhythm I thought we would have, but the great part is that it's just Week 1, and we have time to fix this thing."
Coach Tom Coughlin did not pin the blame on the new offense, which required the players to learn a new set of terminology.
"It'd be an easy one to say at this point in time, but I don't see it," Coughlin said. "I think that a lot of the mistakes that you're seeing are technical things, more than just communication. I don't see the communication thing being the major problem. I think right now it's execution."
The Giants didn't just change their offensive playbook, however. Their 53-man roster features 21 new players, a rather large number, and Coughlin hinted that his team is still jelling, even though the regular season is already underway.
"I think one of the things you're seeing is that all of a sudden last night, in the start of the season with the first game, you saw things occur which I think are a result of a lot of new parts," Coughlin said. "You saw things that you maybe hadn't seen before or hadn't seen on the practice field, hadn't seen on the game field, and some of that was as a result of people just new to the program."
"I think that was part of it, but I'm certainly not going to say that that's the reason that we weren't productive," the coach added. "That's not gonna be used as an excuse, it's just perhaps a reality. We need to perform better no matter what the new parts are."
The Giants got off to a disastrous start a season ago, losing their first six games and ultimately missing the playoffs for the second year in a row. The fans won't soon forget that 0-6 start, nor will Coughlin, but he elected not to discuss it with his players on Monday.
"There was a thought in my mind as a motivational thing to talk about last year as we got into this week, and I decided for best not to go there," Coughlin said. "Do I have to hit them right between the eyes with last year and what we certainly don't want to see happen, I don't think so. Quite frankly this is a new year, it's a different team."
A different team with, one week in, similar results.