After all the anguish, pain and fear subsided, Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz knew he had the opportunity to prove everyone who said he couldn't come back from a torn patellar tendon wrong.
"I knew I wanted that. I kept thinking, 'This is going to be big for me,'" Cruz told USA Today. "Either it's going to make me, or it's going to break me."
He's right, of course. It usually takes players more than one season to recover from such a devastating injury. Many players never regain that top-edge speed.
Then again, this is similar to what people wrote about ACL injuries before Adrian Peterson shattered all of our previous expectations.
At the moment, it would be unfair to dream wildly about the Giants' offense with Cruz and Odell Beckham Jr. firing on all cylinders at the same time. As entertaining as two high catch-rate, explosive speed options would be, it might not be in the cards until next season based on the injury timetable.
Like Cruz said, though, this opportunity has a chance to make him all over again.
The latest Around The NFL Podcast welcomes back Colleen Wolfe to discuss non-Super Bowl contenders, and an all-new 'Orr You Kidding Me.' Find more Around The NFL content on NFL NOW.
