The New York Giants excellent PR staff sent along some New York Giants stats that I thought I would share.
Wide receiver Victor Cruz is having an amazing year, especially for a player who had never caught an NFL pass prior to this season. How good?
- Cruz leads the team with 62 catches for 1,076 yards and seven touchdowns. The 62 catches place him 10th in the NFL, while the yardage total is fourth, just 16 yards behind Detroit's Calvin Johnson and Carolina's Steve Smith, who are tied for second.
- If Cruz maintains his average of 5.2 catches per game he will catch 83 passes, surpassing Amani Toomer (82) for second all-time in franchise history.
- Cruz is on pace to shatter Toomer's Giants single-season record of 1,343 yards, set in 2002. Cruz is averaging about 90 yards game - which projects to a final total of 1,434 - and needs 268 yards, or 67 a game, to tie the record.
- According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Cruz is only the fourth Giants receiver in history with three consecutive 110+ yard games, joining Del Shofner (1963), Homer Jones (1968) and Mario Manningham in the final three games of the 2010 season.
- Cruz has five 100-yard games this season, one shy of the franchise record set by Shofner in 1963.
- Cruz is averaging 17.4 yards per catch. The only other Giant to maintain that high an average with at least 62 receptions was Shofner, who averaged 18.5 yards a catch (64 for 1,181) in 1963.
Here are some Eli Manning numbers for you. Some of these, by the way, show how terrific Manning's season has been. Some, you can interpret, as showing simply how poorly the Giants have run the ball.
- Manning is on pace to set career highs and Giants single-season records in attempts, completions and yards and he has a shot to become the first 5,000-yard passer in Giants history. That total has been reached just twice in NFL history (by Dan Marino in 1984 and Drew Brees in 2008) though three other quarterbacks - Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady and Brees - are on pace to crack that barrier this season.
- Manning has thrown for 3,705 yards, which projects to a 16-game total of 4,940 yards. The Giants record of 4,073 yards was set by Kerry Collins in 2002. Manning's career high of 4,021 was set in 2009.
- Manning's 442 pass attempts leave him on pace to throw 589 passes this season. That would easily break Collins' club record of 568, set in 2001, and Manning's career high of 539, set last year.
- Manning has completed 276 passes, or 23 a game. If he maintains that average over the final four weeks, he will finish with 368, breaking the franchise mark of 339 he set in 2010.
- The Giants' quarterback is also on pace to throw 30 touchdown passes, which is one shy of the career high he set last season.
- Manning's six 300-yard games is a Giants single-season record. The NFL record is 10, set by Oakland's Rich Gannon in 2002 and tied by Brees in 2008. Manning's 20 career 300-yard games are one shy of Phil Simms' franchise record.