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NFL Preseason Blitz: Victor Cruz quiet in long-awaited return to field

The preseason is meaningless, right? That is, unless you haven’t played an NFL game in 22 months and your career has stopped and started more than a washer-dryer at a nursery.

Victor Cruz suffered a torn patellar tendon in November 2014 and since has battled calf and groin injuries with constant setbacks, false starts and, worse yet, false hope. But the New York Giants wide receiver, who set the NFL on its ear in 2011 and kept it going with a Pro Bowl season in 2012, finally made it back to the field — his first game in 685 days — in game action on Saturday night. As the “Cruuuuzzzz” chants rained down on MetLife Stadium, it was clear how big the moment was.

“It felt great just to be with my teammates and put this 80 jersey back on and to get the love of the crowd and the people again and go out there and be in position to make a few plays as well,” Cruz said via NJ.com. “It was a great feeling.”

It wasn’t a terribly productive night for Cruz or for the Giants in their game against the New York Jets. But progress must be measured in other ways when you consider how far he’s come to get here.

New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz played in his first NFL game in almost two years (AP).
New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz played in his first NFL game in almost two years (AP).

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Cruz started and caught one pass for 4 yards. The Giants’ first-team offense, however, didn’t run a single play in Jets territory during its 29-snap appearance that stretched into the third quarter. It was a miserable night all around. Eli Manning left the game after completing 10 of 15 passes for 65 yards and an interception.

The Giants had one pass play go for longer than 9 yards while Manning was in the game. Odell Beckham Jr., like Cruz, had a mere one catch — for 8 yards. Most atrocious was the Giants’ pass protection. The line looks like a hot mess.

But Cruz got a lot of reps and shook off the cobwebs of almost two full years away from game action. Sure, he’s taken his share of practice reps the past few seasons, but it’s not the same. Just getting out there and seeing the live bullets fly in a game setting and trying to get off press coverage and work past buzzing safeties is a huge leap.

Cruz appeared to move around well. He beat cornerback Buster Skrine on one long pass thrown his way, but Manning’s back-foot throw was not far enough and too far to the inside. The ball fell incomplete as Cruz tried to adjust and look back over his inside shoulder to a ball that was supposed to be thrown over his outside shoulder.

Cruz’s one catch came on the Giants’ first play of the second half. It was clear they wanted him to touch the ball, with Manning shooting him a quick underneath route. It came against the Jets’ second-team defense, and Cruz couldn’t get loose, but he looked spry enough to be out there.

The one negative was that Cruz and Beckham were the receivers in two-WR formations, which took reps away from promising rookie Sterling Shepard, who figures to have a big role whether or not Cruz stays healthy this season.

If Ben McAdoo’s offense is going to get in gear — the preseason results have been ugly lately — it must have multiple passing options for Manning. Shane Vereen is a target out of the backfield, but no tight end has been established in the passing game yet. It’s pretty much the top three receivers who will catch the bulk of the passes.

But if Cruz is one of them, we can look back at Saturday night as a major hurdle toward helping the Giants get back to that point. Will he play in the Giants’ fourth preseason game? It’s a good question. He showed enough in this game — despite the meager production — to perhaps rest for the opening game against the Dallas Cowboys.

The Kansas City Chiefs look dialed in for the regular season. It’s an odd thing to say considering how many key members the team has missed up to this point.

Despite missing four of their best players — Tamba Hali, Eric Berry, Justin Houston and Jamaal Charles — for the entire preseason, the Chiefs came out and looked polished in all aspects of a 23-7 victory over the Chicago Bears that was dominated by the Chiefs when both teams’ starters were in the game.

Despite a so-so performance inside the red zone, converting one touchdown on their three possessions down there, the Chiefs’ offense looked fluid. Alex Smith was 20-of-30 for 181 yards in a solid day. He took a few big hits and airmailed a few red-zone throws but was effective.

Running back Spencer Ware had a strong game with a second-effort touchdown run from 1 yard out, adding four catches for 26 yards in a dimension he hasn’t always showed in his brief career.

On defense, the Chiefs were much better against the run than up through their second preseason game. They shut down the Bears’ run game and overpowered their offensive line. Rookie Chris Jones continues to be a revelation and could help offset the loss of Mike DeVito — and perhaps surpass him in time.

The Bears’ offense ran only 18 plays in the first half (the Chiefs ran 45) and gained a mere 20 yards and two first downs. The performance was so good that Andy Reid punted on his plans to let the starters play into the third quarter.

“There were a bunch of plays we got in,” Smith said. “I feel like we’ve got in a lot of different situations, whether it be goal line or short yardage, third down, red zone. We got a little two-minute [offense] today. That’s kind of what you want in the preseason, to get a little taste of all that stuff, to get used to it, to get rolling.”

Berry is set to return to the team Sunday and be geared up to play Week 1 against the San Diego Chargers. His holdout lasted longer than anyone wanted, and he’s without a long-term deal, but his return should help lift the secondary, which also just got Phillip Gaines (2015 torn ACL) back on Saturday. The Chiefs also swung a trade with the 49ers for cornerback Kenneth Acker, a 2014 sixth-rounder who started 13 games last season, for a conditional draft pick.

Charles and Hali have worked their way into a return to the field, too. They should be good for opening day. Houston is farther off, but the defense has showed it can do work without him.

Many have predicted that the Chiefs, who caught fire late last season but were somewhat gutted in the offseason by free agency, will take a fall in 2016. Don’t be so sure if Saturday’s work is any indication.

Don’t look now, but Marcus Mariota has had an excellent preseason. Other than one boneheaded interception, he has been spot-on with his accuracy: 23-for-31 passing for 319 yards, plus a TD and that interception through three preseason games following a good night of work against the Oakland Raiders.

On one impressive play, Mariota moved to his left and threw — against his body — a dart to Andre Johnson, who had a big game as well. The fact that Mariota knew he’d take a big hit on the play made delivering such a well-thrown strike all the more eye-opening.

Movement is a big part of Mariota’s game, and he has been effective as a scrambler, too (five rushes, 33 yards in three games). But most of that skill comes out when he’s moving around the pocket and able to throw — and throw accurately most of the time — while doing so.

A lot has been made of the Tennessee Titans and their silly-named offensive identity of “exotic smashmouth.” The title is not above reproach. It’s rather stupid-sounding, actually. But the effectiveness of this scheme so far has been a revelation.

The running of DeMarco Murray, who is back in a power scheme now, and Derrick Henry has looked terrific. Credit the Titans’ young offensive line, too, for holding its own against a good defensive front of the Raiders. In a game that had a regular-season type of feel to it, the Titans held up mighty well on both sides of the ball.

But with Mariota operating in this scheme and having some intriguing targets to throw to — potentially Johnson and certainly Tajae Sharpe, who had another big outing — has the Titans looking like a team to monitor. They have one of the easiest schedules in the NFL and will face teams that have not seen much like this spread-meets-power scheme that Mike Mularkey and company are engineering.

One other interesting wrinkle: Keep an eye on Dennis Kelly. The little-known offensive lineman the Titans acquired from the Philadelphia Eagles was considered a bit of a throwaway addition. But Kelly will be used as a sixth offensive lineman in heavy sets and perhaps as a tackle-eligible, too. After all, you need to have some exotic to go with that smashmouth.

Broncos-Rams: As Shutdown Corner’s Frank Schwab wrote, it almost has to be Trevor Siemian at this point for Week 1. Even as Paxton Lynch showed good velocity and skills in taking over for Siemian — who again was fine, but not great — in the third quarter. Luckily, for the Broncos, Von Miller was back and looked great. Aqib Talib, despite a boneheaded hit on Rams quarterback Case Keenum, looked to move around well after his self-inflicted gunshot ailment over the summer.

Ravens 30, Lions 9: The return of Joe Flacco for the first game action since his ACL tear went well. He completed 11-of-16 passes for 94 yards and more importantly moved around well on his first drive, escaping pressure to get rid of a few passes. Mike Wallace also played his first game for the Ravens and looked good. For the Lions, Theo Riddick and Ameer Abdullah looked solid running the ball.

• Brutal loss for the Baltimore Ravens with tight end Benjamin Watson going down for the season with an Achilles injury. At 35, that’s a tough one to come back from — just ask Steve Smith, who is doing it at 37 — and especially coming off a career season with the New Orleans Saints. And what looked like a position of strength is now shockingly thin. Crockett Gillmore figures to start. Dennis Pitta and Maxx Williams have been hurt most of the preseason, and Darren Waller (four games) and Nick Boyle (10) will serve lengthy suspensions to start the season. The identity of the Ravens’ offense is still in flux because of this.

• Despite losing, the Lions had better injury luck than the Ravens. Getting Abdullah and linebacker DeAndre Levy back on the field was a good development. A big test for Levy was getting cut blocked early in the game and immediately bouncing right back up. His snaps were capped early, but he moved around spryly. Abdullah had a long TD run called back but looked good in limited time.

• The Colts’ offensive line looked like trash against the Philadelphia Eagles. Left guard Jack Mewhort suffered what could be a serious knee injury on Saturday. Joe Reitz was hurt and didn’t play; his replacement, rookie LeRaven Clark, was undressed a few times in pass protection. Left tackle Anthony Costanzo was called for holding as he gets back into form. But rookie center Ryan Kelly had maybe the roughest night up front. He got beat by Eagles star defensive tackle Fletcher Cox, who crushed Andrew Luck. The Colts couldn’t pull Luck fast enough and insert backup Scott Tolzien .

• Look for the Bears to target two areas to improve as rosters get slimmed down over the next week: offensive line and secondary. Both units looked bad against the Chiefs as talent and depth issues emerge. Injuries to Kyle Fuller and Tracy Porter (head) have the Bears scratching at corner. They have no depth on their offensive line and looked miserable without Pro Bowler Kyle Long out there on Saturday. The Bears also might need another quarterback, with Connor Shaw — their best player on Saturday — likely out for the season with a broken leg.

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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at edholm@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!