There was no salsa dancing for Victor Cruz during the season-opening NFL Kickoff game. The New York Giantslost 24-17 to the Dallas Cowboys while Cruz had three drops, two penalties and never found the end zone.
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The league was caught off guard when Cruz broke out with 1,536 receiving yards, third in the NFL, and nine touchdowns in 2011. But he's not sneaking up on anyone in 2012.
"A couple of first-game jitters," Cruz said during his weekly appearance on WFAN-AM in New York. "Personally, just thinking the game was just going come to me naturally, and I probably didn't have to work as hard."
Cruz didn't exactly fly under the radar after the Giants won the Super Bowl. He published his memoirs, did the talk show tour, presented a Grammy and cranked out a few commercials and photo shoots.
No defensive back wants to give up a touchdown and get danced on by the new Hollywood receiver. Oh, and it helps that teams now have entire season of game tape on the third-year pro.
"I have to understand that I'm going to get every defender's best effort and everybody is going to be out there to stop me," Cruz said, according to The Star-Ledger. "I just have to come prepared and come with my 'A' game. As much as it is going against the top defenders, they have to defend me as well."
Follow Kareem Copeland on Twitter @kareemcopeland.