Anyone who picked Victor Cruz in the first round didn't get much to show for it (just two points). Heading into the divisional round, would you recommend sticking with Cruz or jumping off the bandwagon in favor of someone like Wes Welker, Jordy Nelson or even Hakeem Nicks?
The two wide receivers I chose for the wild card round were Calvin Johnson and Marques Colston. That worked out well, as Megatron had a monster game (despite the loss) and Colston was productive and will now provide me with double points in the divisional round. I do have to replace Johnson, but it won't be with Cruz (or Hakeem Nicks for that matter). Instead, I've decided to start Wes Welker. All the Tim Tebow talk aside, I still think the Patriots have the easiest road to the conference championship round. Why did I choose him over Jordy Nelson? Simple -- Greg Jennings is expected back this week, and I think the Giants have a better chance to upset the Packers than the Broncos do of knocking off Tom Brady, Welker and the Patriots.
If you already picked him, stay with him. That way, if he goes off against the Packers (a good matchup), you're getting double points. If the Giants upset the Packers, like many people say they can, you are eligible for triple points in the NFC Championship. It's hard to jump off the bandwagon for a guy who had over 1,500 yards receiving this season. It's also not worth the single points you'll get for someone else.
It would be foolish to make a change now, considering you already got the worst playoff performance of "Victory" Cruz. He has a great matchup vs. the Packers, so realize that you are going to get double the production for him this week. It really looked like the Giants were determined to rebuild Mario Manningham's confidence, so now they can go back to Cruz. I would start him with confidence this week. In fact, if you lost Calvin Johnson last week, I would even recommend starting Cruz this week because he will have a huge game.
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- Jason SmithNFL.com
Double up with Cruz
Are you nuts? If you had Victor Cruz in the first round, OF COURSE you stick with him in the second round. There are going to be a lot of points scored in this game and Cruz is the real No. 1 weapon in New York now. Don't jump off of anyone's bandwagon just because they had a bad first week. Remember, the big thing about the Playoff Challenge is that your points double if you had a player in the first round. So if you went away from Cruz and selected, say, Jordy Nelson, that would be nice, because Nelson certainly can put up good numbers, but they won't be double, which is what you'd get with Cruz. If you already had Cruz, and he catches five passes for 115 yards and a TD this week, you'd get 35 points from him. Conversely, if Nelson has that game, you're getting 17.5. You have to go with the possibility of the bigger number whenever you can.
Sticking with Cruz again boils down to who wins the game at Lambeau. However good the Giants might have looked the last two weeks, the important question to ask yourself is, "Are the Packers a 'one-and-out' football team?" To me the answer is a definitive "NO!" One-and-outs have coaching issues, multiple injuries, motivation problems, lack of experince ... of which the Packers have none. I would get off Cruz already and get with a team you think will make a run at the Super Bowl as you can still get triple points in that game.
We were among the many that suffered through Victor Cruz's disappointment last week, but we did select him with the idea of getting double points after a Giants' first-round win. So there's no reason to back off our original plan. Plus, it may be a blessing in disguise that Cruz didn't have a huge game against the Falcons. He won't be completely ignored by the Packers defense, but Green Bay did get a reminder that Hakeem Nicks and Mario Manningham can still be dangerous. And in a game that could feature a whole lot of scoring, Cruz seems poised to bounce back.