Just when the Giants wide receivers thought they were out, Victor Cruz pulled them back in.
It's been more than three weeks since New York lost to the Packers in a wild-card game marred by drops and ineffective wideout play. It's been four weeks since a cavalcade of Giants receivers took a two-day trip down to South Beach for a little R&R ahead of their playoff preparation, a trip so publicized and so criticized that the storyline took on a life of its own and was meme-ified even after the loss.
But with the Giants weeks removed from relevance, the controversy had thankfully faded from the public's collective memory. That was, until Monday, when Cruz took to the airwaves to rehash the madness.
"Looking back on it, it definitely wasn't worth it," Cruz said on SNY's "TimeOut with Taylor Rooks" podcast. "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."
Cruz's most recent statement is a far departure from his comments immediately following the trip. The veteran wideout told WFAN's Mike Francesca shortly after the trip "we get photographed everywhere we go. Whether it's Miami or New York City, it doesn't matter. I mean, obviously, we understand it's news, but if it ain't about Green Bay, we're not talking about it."
Cruz caught three balls on four targets for 30 yards in New York's loss in Green Bay, while Odell Beckham dropped three passes on 11 targets and earned the brunt of the criticism.
With 20/20 hindsight, Cruz is indicating the Giants' receivers probably regret the unnecessary attention that they brought upon the team during the week.
But if you're still looking to uncover a destructive link between the excursion and the wideouts' case of the dropsies, look elsewhere.
