TUESDAY, 4:37pm: The Giants have officially placed Cruz on injured reserve, tweets Field Yates of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
MONDAY, 5:40pm: Cruz underwent patellar tendon repair surgery today, a league source tells Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk (Twitter link).
SUNDAY, 9:45pm: Sunday night’s game against the Eagles went from bad to worse for the Giants, who are currently being shut out by their division rivals, and have now learned that wide receiver Victor Cruz suffered a torn patella tendon while running a route in the third quarter. The injury, which was first reported by Michele Tafoya on NBC, has now been confirmed by the team (Twitter link).
Although the Giants have yet to announce a timetable for Cruz, it’s extremely likely that the injury will end his season. That’s very bad news for a Giants offense that has been up and down even with Cruz in the lineup, and was already missing another injured wide receiver, Jerrel Jernigan.
Among Giants wideouts, Cruz came into the evening trailing Rueben Randle in total receptions, with 21 to Randle’s 23, but Randle had averaged just 8.2 yards per reception compared to Cruz’s team-best 15.3 ypc and 321 total receiving yards. In Cruz’s absence, Randle, Preston Parker and rookie Odell Beckham Jr. will assume larger roles. Eli Manning has also developed a rapport with tight end Larry Donnell, who leads the team in catches.
Assuming Cruz’s injury is determined to be season-ending, as expected, the Giants figure to place him on injured reserve this week, and will likely add another wideout to the 53-man roster. While an outside free agent is a possibility, the Giants could also elect to promote a player from their practice squad, which currently features three receivers — Juron Criner, Travis Harvey, and Julian Talley.