Antrel Rolle wants Giants to win one for Victor Cruz
Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz, left, is carted off the field during the second half of an NFL football game against the Philadelphia Eagles in Philadelphia on Oct. 12, 2014. Credit: AP / Matt Rourke
Tom Coughlin told the Giants they must move forward from the devastating injury Victor Cruz suffered on Sunday night. One of the team's leaders admitted that he's having a hard time with that.
Safety Antrel Rolle said he has watched the play in which Cruz went up for the ball and came down with a torn patellar tendon "at least 15 to 20 times," but what haunts him is what he heard on the field.
"Man, I just can't get it out of my head the way he was just down there screaming, screaming to the top of his lungs and you didn't know why," Rolle said Tuesday on his weekly WFAN spot. "I don't know, man, that's a hard pill to swallow."
Rolle went on to say that the Giants need to "honor this guy" by playing hard against the Cowboys this week and for the rest of the season.
"Right now, here's an opportunity to go out there and play the game for something that's bigger than yourself," he said. "Here's a guy who contributed so much and put so much on the line for this team and for this organization, we have to make sure we go out there and do something to inspire him while he's going through this tough time."
Hosley ready to fill in
With the loss of Trumaine McBride (thumb), Jayron Hosley seemingly is the next option for the Giants as a slot cornerback. That's a role he struggled with as a rookie but believes he can fill now in his third NFL season. "I feel more fluent at the position," Hosley said Tuesday as he and several teammates attended a United Way of New York City Hometown Huddle event at P.S. 49 in the Bronx. "From my rookie year to now I've developed more, I've grown. Being out there, seeing it, I feel more confident and instinctive at the position."
Hosley said the Giants haven't yet talked to him about where he'll play, but he suspects he will be in the mix with McBride out and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie possibly not playing because of leg and back issues.
"I can't say what my role is going to be coming this Sunday," he said, "but whatever it is I'll be prepared for that."
WR Ogletree signed
The Giants signed free-agent wide receiver Kevin Ogletree to help replace Cruz, who was put on season-ending injured reserve on Tuesday. Ogletree, a Queens native who played at Holy Cross High School, had an eight-catch, two-TD game against the Giants in the 2012 opener as a member of the Cowboys. He has also played for the Bucs and Lions . . . The Giants also put cornerback Trumaine McBride (thumb) on injured reserve and signed cornerback Chandler Fenner from their practice squad.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
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