Victor Cruz: Miami trip “wasn’t worth it”

The New York Giants’ wide receivers going to Miami on their day off after the conclusion of the 2016 regular season for a boat trip to Justin Bieber is going to be one of those story lines that won’t go away.

First there was the talk about the trip. Then after Eli Manning and Ben McAdoo made it plain that it wasn’t distraction for the team, there was the talk about how it wasn’t a big deal. Then the talk about the talk, and as the game approached, the talk about how it WOULD be a big deal if the receivers didn’t deliver.

And, of course, the receivers proceeded to drop the ball — literally and figuratively.

For weeks since that game, members of the media have been itching for an opportunity to hear from one of the Giants’ receivers regarding the Miami Trip.

Monday Victor Cruz went on the Timeout podcast with Taylor Rooks and addressed the trip saying:

“Looking back on it, it definitely wasn’t worth it. At the end of the day, you want to put your mind in a place where you want to succeed at whatever your next task is, especially in a football setting and a football atmosphere.”

Ultimately, we don’t know whether or not the trip had an effect on the players. Victor Cruz, Odell Beckham Jr., Dwayne Harris, and Tavarres King are all veteran players, and it’s tough to imagine that a day in Miami would take them that far out of their games — Though rookie Sterling Shepard is another matter.

That being said, having experienced his own meteoric rise to super-stardom during a Super Bowl run, Cruz probably should have spoken up and kept them from going in the first place. Even if it had no effect and wasn’t a distraction, Cruz knows as well as anybody — and better than most — how the New York fishbowl can create a distraction from nothing.