New York Giants WR Victor Cruz miffed about lack of targets

For the first time in his NFL career, New York Giants receiver Victor Cruz did not receive a single passing target in a game in which he was active.

And the 30-year-old receiver didn't like the development one bit.

"I have no idea," Cruz said after the game as he headed for the team's chartered bus. "That's not a question for me to answer."

But he intended to find out.

"I'm going to talk to somebody," Cruz said. "Somebody's got to give me an answer as to why."

The fact is that Cruz, who made an admirable comeback from back-to-back, season-ending lower body injuries, has seen his workload shift elsewhere.

This week's snaps counts showed that rookie Roger Lewis Jr. received two more snaps than Cruz, whose role in the offense seems to be diminishing.

In fact, ever since the Giants came out of the bye week, Cruz, who was inactive for one game during that stretch, was only been targeted eight times, catching three passes for 131 yards.

The drop in his pass targets naturally raised a question as to if quarterback Eli Manning has lost faith in his one-time top receiver.

"No. It just depends on what defenses are doing, what's going on and where he ends up lined up sometimes," Manning said. "I have total confidence in Victor. Sometimes he might just be the second or third progression on some things and not get through everything."

Since coming out of the bye week, the Giants seem to be focusing more on getting Odell Beckham Jr. the ball. In the last five weeks, Beckham was targeted 55 times, catching 35 for 385 yards.

Against the Steelers, he was targeted a team-high 16 times, catching 10 balls for 100 yards and no touchdowns.

Rookie Sterling Shepard, meanwhile, was targeted 32 times, with 17 receptions in that span. His eight pass targets on Sunday were second-most on the team.

The way Cruz sees it, there are plenty of balls to go around for everyone in every game.

"Absolutely, there's always opportunities for everybody to get the ball out there and I didn't get those (Sunday)," he said.

He would like very much to start seeing his share again as the Giants try to keep their playoff hopes alive.