Hold the phone of the Victor Cruz will play Sunday against the Buffalo Bills feel-good story. Cruz did not make it through his first full practice with the Giants in six weeks on Wednesday.
"Victor came out and tried to do individuals," coach Tom Coughlin said. "He felt the calf again and that's all he did."
This, of course, is not a good development. Cruz, who has not played since suffering a torn patellar tendon in Week 6 of last season, has been certain that this would be the week he would finally get back on the field. He went as far on Monday as telling reporters "I'm convinced I'm playing on Sunday."
"We could see a little limp in him a little bit once he tried to turn up and run," wide receiver Rueben Randle said. "We could tell that he wasn't quite ready yet to play full speed. I'm pretty sure if we needed him to play he could play, but he still can sit out a little bit and rest up. ... We were just running routes in individual, it wasn't a play. We could just see once he tried to turn up a little bit, he kind of looked a little gimpy, kind of holding back a little bit. I don't think he's too far away, but I don't think he's quite there yet.
"He wasn't the Cruz that we know. That's what we want to see, we don't want to rush him back and hurt it even more. We were trying to tell him, ‘Don't try to stress it too much, take as much time as possible,' because we didn't want him to hurt it even worse than what it is and have to be out even longer. As his teammates, we care for him and want him to come back as healthy as possible."
This, quite obviously, casts doubt on that. It also lends credibility to Tom Coughlin's assertion he still needed to see Cruz practice before he could count on him to play. Cruz, who had not tried to practice since Aug. 17, did not speak to reporters following practice.
"I know Victor is very anxious," cornerback Prince Amukamara said. "I've seen him in the training room and on the field just working hard trying to get back out there. Anytime you have a little mishap, for me it just plays with the mind. But Victor is very strong mentally and like I told him, it's a long season, just forget the pressure. You know when you're injured and much is expected out of you, there's a lot of pressure on you. I just told him to forget about that, it's a long season and to keep his head up.
Wednesday Injury Report
Did Not Participate in Practice
TE Jerome Cunningham - Knee
TE Daniel Fells - Ankle
Limited Participation in Practice
DE Robert Ayers - Hamstring
WR Victor Cruz - Calf
RB Orleans Darkwa - Knee
T Ereck Flowers - Ankle
DT Markus Kuhn - Knee
DE Owa Odighizuwa - Foot