Giants receiver Cruz an overnight sensation

INDIANAPOLIS - You have officially become a phenomenon when Madonna mimics your end-zone celebration salsa.

Victor Cruz's undrafted-to-all-pro story is one that has been oft-told in the NFL: Small-school prospect gets overlooked by teams, scrapes his way onto a roster, gets a break when a player is injured, and goes on to capitalize on his opportunity.

But Cruz's tale is no less worth retelling. In fact, it may prove to be the best of the lot. His season has been that special and is still a game away from being over. And there is every reason to believe that if the New York Giants top the Patriots on Sunday in Super Bowl XLVI, the wide receiver will play a significant role in the victory.

Aside from quarterback Eli Manning, Las Vegas has given Cruz the best odds - 8-1 - of any Giant to win the game's Most Valuable Player award. Not bad, considering the long odds he faced coming out of the University of Massachusetts as an undrafted rookie free agent nearly two years ago.

"Ten million to one - because nobody expected this kind of performance from me, including myself," Cruz said this week. "I just wanted to come in and do whatever possible to make the team and do some positive things out there, but never anything like this."

Across the field, the Patriots have their own rags-to-riches receiver in Wes Welker. Undrafted and cut by the first team that signed him, Welker eventually landed in New England, where he has led the NFL in receptions in three of the last five seasons. But his rise was a more gradual one.

Cruz's success came out of nowhere. Refreshingly, the Giants have admitted that they did not foresee his meteoric rise - one that got its start against the Eagles back in September. Even the 25-year-old confessed that he could have just as easily failed.

"It's a very, very fine line," Cruz said. "It takes a little bit of luck."

Giants officials even confirmed to the Newark Star-Ledger this week that they had decided following the 2010 preseason that they were going to cut Cruz and then bring him back on the practice squad. But they feared the New York Jets would snatch him up, so they kept him on the 53-man roster.

Four months earlier, every NFL team passed on Cruz in the draft.

"We had Victor Cruz ranked just like everybody else," Giants general manager Jerry Reese said. "We had him ranked as a free agent. Every now and then, you get lucky with guys like that."

Cruz, of African American and Puerto Rican descent, was born and raised in Paterson, N.J. Because he had to get his grades up to get into UMass, he attended Bridgeton Academy in Maine for a year. It took until his junior season for him to start for the Minutemen.

Cruz was a first-team All-Colonial Athletic Association receiver in his final two seasons in Amherst, but did not earn an invite to the NFL scouting combine held in this city before the draft. A number of teams, however, got a glimpse of his skills at his Pro Day because teammate Vladimir Ducasse was a highly regarded tackle.

Still, when the draft arrived, Cruz's name was never called.

"Subconsciously, I knew nothing was going to happen," he said.

Cruz signed with the Giants and he had an impressive preseason, but the team was already stocked at receiver with Hakeem Nicks, Mario Manningham and Steve Smith. After three games without a catch, Cruz suffered a hamstring injury and was placed on injured reserve.

When Smith had surgery on his knee in December, the Giants could not find a suitable replacement in the slot. Smith then signed with the Eagles in August and Cruz, his replacement, struggled during the preseason.

"He wasn't playing real well," Giants offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride said. "We brought in Brandon Stokley - that's how much he was struggling. Then Brandon got hurt and Victor got a chance to play."

Manningham and Domenik Hixon also went down early in the season and Cruz earned the start in Week 3 against the Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field. He caught three passes, including two that covered 74 and 28 yards and went for touchdowns.

It was just the beginning. He had six more 100-yard receiving days in the final 13 games and finished with 82 catches for 1,536 yards and nine scores. Having Manning throwing him the ball, obviously, helped, but Cruz kept making highlight-worthy catches despite his relatively small size (6-foot, 205 pounds).

The quarterback and receiver have developed a chemistry based often on Manning reading Cruz's body language.

"It's not as specific exactly what your route is. It's more of a . . . 'Have a great feel, get open, find a zone, find a lane,' " Manning said. "You have to be very clear with your body language to tell me what you're doing. That's something Victor has done a great job with."

It isn't difficult to read Cruz when he's celebrating after a touchdown. His fancy footwork had Dancing With the Stars beckoning. And then on Thursday, Madonna, who will perform at halftime of the Super Bowl, spontaneously broke out into a salsa in honor of Cruz.

"I've been practicing," she said. "Do you think he would approve?"