New York Giants

Giants' Victor Cruz plans to talk to Ben McAdoo about zero-target game

Published Dec. 9, 2016 12:54 p.m. ET

Brett Smiley

New York Giants veteran wide receiver Victor Cruz wants some answers after a rough outing at Pittsburgh that saw him get not a single ball thrown his way.

Described as "clearly frustrated" and "fuming" after the 24-14 loss, the 30-year-old played 26 snaps and said after the game "take a guess" when asked if he was bothered about his lack of involvement. “I’m gonna talk to somebody,’’ Cruz added, per the New York Post. “Somebody got to give me an answer as to why, as to why.’’

With a night to simmer after the defeat, Cruz appeared on "Good Morning Football" where Peter Schrager and the rest of the crew asked Cruz to expand on his sentiment and about his role in the offense (transcript follows):

"After the game obviously, I was a little angry. So some of the comments stemmed from anger. But I didn't say anything bad. But just out of anger, you know you lost the game, you want to contribute and honestly, I just want to go out there and contribute at the end of the day. And we'll see how it goes tomorrow when I step into work and have a conversation with coach [Ben] McAdoo, which I plan on doing, and we'll take it from there. But I'm not angry, I'm not a disgruntled employee, I'm not like 'screw this.' I'm a team guy first and I just want to make sure that everybody's interest is at heart."

The Giants offense has been stagnant at best this season. It's Odell Beckham Jr. or bust. The running game ranks between brutal and nonexistent (31st in rushing yards per game). In his first season back after tearing his patellar tendon in October 2014, Cruz doesn't quite have the same explosiveness he once possessed, though he still does have chemistry with Eli Manning.

Maybe the squeaky wheel gets greased next Sunday night when the Giants face the first-place Cowboys, but that won't solve the Giants' offensive woes in general, which consist of offensive line problems (particularly with Ereck Flowers at left tackle), a poor running game (partly a result of their constant use of 11 personnel packages) and little production from the tight end position. Also, Manning wasn't very good on Sunday.

Still New York is 8-4 and in the thick of the playoffs hunt and a lot of teams would kill for that, problems and all.

“I’m a team guy first” Giants WR @TeamVic discussed his role in the offense, moving on from a loss & much more #GMFB https://t.co/cGVG0wBmlY
— GMFB (@gmfb) December 5, 2016