Not just for Cruz, but for the entire team, and in every facet.
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Manning’s New York Giants defeated Brees’ New Orleans Saints at MetLife Stadium 16-13; a far cry from last season’s shootout which Brees and the Saints won 52-49.
The Giants have opened the regular season with two victories for the first time since 2009. Cruz had 4 receptions for 91 yards. On the opposite side, Brees passed for 263 yards and a touchdown.
This will be a game that garners the attention of fantasy football players and fans of the game in general. “Each and every one of them is lethal”. The teams then traded fourth quarter field goals until Brown’s winning kick.
“It’s the redemption tour, man. We know what it takes and it’s not an individual goal but to correct the mistakes that we made”. Manning has looked good in the first two games and thinks it’s nice to pull out the close games they faltered in a year ago.
Sure, Dennis Allen’s defense may have surrendered 417 total yards to the Giants, but how about the fact that they held them out the end zone? The Giants turned the ball over three times in the second quarter on fumbles by running back Shane Vereen, quarterback Eli Manning and receiver Victor Cruz.
The rookie second-round draft pick built on his Week One performance to catch eight passes for 117 yards.
Sure, it is only Week 2 of the 2016 National Football League season, but talk about what a difference a week makes in terms of the Saints offense! The kick was blocked by Johnathan Hankins and scooped up by Janoris Jenkins. “Might have something to do with it”.
The Giants defense, however, did a good job of clamping down on Brees and the Saints, holding them to just 288 net yards of offense, with only two pass plays exceeding 20 yards.
From 23 yards out, it was a chip shot for Giants. The plan was clearly to limit Beckham’s big-play opportunities, as Moore gave Beckham a sizable cushion.
The Giants started the second half with the ball and made their way downfield but Josh Brown, who was suspended for week 1, missed a 53 yard field goal wide left. Giants RB Rashad Jennings suffered a right hand injury, the severity of which is unknown. After they punted on their opening drive; the Giants turned the ball over on downs, and then fumbled it on three possessions. With safeties keeping an eye on Beckham and Cruz, the combination of Manning and Shepard was able to exploit the coverage from the slot.
The Saints’ defense has allowed Giants’ quarterback Eli Manning just -7.41 Net Expected Points on 18 attempts at the end of the first half, per numberFire Live. Payton said cornerback P.J. Williams, who was carted off the field Sunday and hospitalized to be evaluated for a possible concussion or spinal injury after taking a knee to the helmet, was traveling back to New Orleans on Monday afternoon.
On its television broadcast, FOX reported that Williams had lost consciousness, but could move his extremities.
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“That was scary”, Giants linebacker Jonathan Casillas said.
