New York Giants: Five Takeaways From Week 1

Nov 17, 2013; East Rutherford, NJ, USA;

New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz (80) celebrates a big 1st down 2nd half

at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports

5. The Giants Desperately Need Victor Cruz Back

Preston Parker isn’t going to cut it. Rueben Randle isn’t at full speed because of his bad knees and Odell Beckham is going to get double covered by most defenses. That left Parker in position to shine and he just couldn’t take advantage of it.

The Giants need Victor Cruz back in the slot to start becoming a more efficient offense. Cruz knows how to come up big in key moments unlike Parker. Eli Manning is also more familiar with him and knows what he can do.

The Giants can only hope that Cruz will come back and be his old self. If Cruz is a shell of himself, it’s better off to have Parker at full speed rather than Cruz at half speed. Defenses are going to continue to exploit the weakness of receiver depth as long as Cruz is out.

Now that pretty much everyone knows what Beckham is capable of, teams are going to do anything they can to try to take him out of the game even if that means double covering him. If the Giants don’t have another wide receiver that can take advantage of that, it’s going to be a long season.

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