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Sports

Receiver Victor Cruz, who has not played in roughly a year, appears to be on pace to play against the Bills on Oct. 4.

Credit
Bill Kostroun/Associated Press 

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — A day after the first Giants victory of the season, there was more good news for the team. Coach Tom Coughlin indicated on Friday that wide receiver Victor Cruz, who has not played in roughly a year, should resume practicing next week, which would put him on schedule to rejoin the team on Oct. 4 for its next game, against the Buffalo Bills.

Cruz, who strained a calf muscle in mid-August and is also recovering from major knee surgery last year, still has to get through multiple workouts without a setback. But Cruz’s stated goal is to play against Buffalo.

“I hope so,” Coughlin said. “That’s what we’re being told.”

Cruz’s return would offer a significant lift to the offense after Thursday night’s 32-21 victory over the Washington Redskins when wide receiver Rueben Randle had a breakout game with seven receptions for a team-high 116 yards. Odell Beckham Jr. also had seven catches. Both players had touchdown receptions.

“He’s improving, and we’re hoping,” Coughlin said of Cruz. “He’s running. He’ll be running all weekend, and we’re hoping that there’s nothing but straight-ahead positives in all his activities.”

Cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, who missed Thursday’s game because of a concussion sustained last week, also appears ready to return to the practice field next week. There is less certainty about the condition of left tackle Ereck Flowers’s sprained ankle. Despite Flowers’s absence, a revamped offensive line did not give up a sack Thursday.

The victory seemed to have improved the Giants’ attitude and mood. Most Giants are getting the entire weekend off, which is always good for morale as well.

Coughlin talked about “getting on the board to become, hopefully, more relevant.”

Middle linebacker Jon Beason, who made his season debut Thursday after a lingering knee injury, said the Giants were “very much in the thick of things.”

Beason added: “We deserved to win the first game. We deserved to win the second game. We are a good football team, and we need to start thinking of ourselves that way — in the locker room and in the community.”

Still, the Giants gave up two fourth-quarter touchdowns, which once again put a scare in a team and a fan base that watched the Giants squander two significant fourth-quarter leads to open the season