Victor Cruz was one of the top breakout wide receivers in the NFL during the 2011 season. Not only did he give New York Giants fans a new player to root for, but Cruz helped several fantasy football owners get to their championship as he gained yardage and touchdowns throughout the season.

Five games stood out for Cruz as the chemistry between him and Eli Manning helped lead the Giants to multiple victories, the lead in the NFC east and playoff contention.

Giants vs. Philadelphia Eagles

The Giants had something to prove when they headed into Philadelphia against their arch-rivals. In a 29-16 victory, Cruz caught for 110 total yards, including a 74 yard catch in the first quarter that led to an early 14-0 lead.

In the middle of the fourth quarter, Cruz caught his second touchdown in the game for 28 yards and a lead that the Giants would continue to grow with no matched points in the fourth.

Giants vs. Arizona Cardinals

After back to back wins against the Eagles and Ram, the Giants continued to roll into Arizona. Cruz had no touchdowns in the game, but he had six catches for 98 yards including a crucial third down catch that he ran for 13 yards. The drive led to a rushing touchdown by Brandon Jacobs.

Without the third down catch, the Cardinals may have beat the Giants and ended the win streak.

Giants vs. New England Patriots

The Giants love being the underdog and they certainly felt the pressure as they headed to New England to take on Tom Brady and the Patriots. Cruz had six catches for 91 yards in a similar performance to the game against the Cardinals. In the fourth quarter, Cruz was a part of the Giants drive that ended up with a Mario Manningham touchdown.

In the final minutes of the game, Cruz set up the pace for the game winning drive as he caught a 19 yard pass from Manning that brought the Giants up the field and eventually led to a Jake Ballard touchdown and upset victory over the Patriots.

Giants vs. Green Bay Packers

Even though the Giants lost to the Green Bay Packers in NFL Week 13, the offense was on fire all game. Cruz had seven catches in the game for a total of 119 yards. Late in the first quarter, he had a 42 yard catch that led to a field goal for the Giants.

Giants vs. New York Jets

In a battle same-city teams the Giants showed their dominance against the Jets. Victor Cruz was quiet for the most of the game except one key play that broke records and set up the Giants for victory. As the first half was winding down, the Giants were pinned at their own one yard line. Eli Manning shot a quick pass to Cruz. Cruz spun away from his opponent and turned the catch into a record 99 yard touchdown that was replayed on sports channels for days after and will go down as one of Cruz’s greatest catches.

Alan Donahue is a life-long New York Giants fan. He passionately follows the NFC East, plays in numerous fantasy football leagues and has written hundreds of sports articles.

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Sunday, 1 p.m., MetLife Stadium, WTTG-5

Falcons 10-6, Giants 9-7

How the Falcons can win… The Falcons are a relatively balanced team, at least by the standards of some of this year’s top playoff contenders. They ranked 10th in the league in total offense and 12th in total defense during the regular season. The Atlanta defense ranked sixth against the run, and seems likely to shut down a Giants’ running game, which struggled all year. The Falcons rediscovered RB Michael Turner when he ran for 172 yards Sunday, and QB Matt Ryan has the receivers–in WRs Roddy White and Julio Jones and TE Tony Gonzalez—to exploit the Giants’ 29th-ranked pass defense.

How the Giants can win… The Giants enter the playoffs feeling good about themselves after beating the Jets and Cowboys on the final two weekends of the regular season to win the NFC East. They get to play at MetLife Stadium again, and they’re talking about re-creating the magic of their postseason run to a Super Bowl title after the 2007 season. QB Eli Manning has been one of the league’s most dependable players all season, leading the Giants to five victories with fourth-quarter comebacks. The defense played well against the Cowboys, sacking QB Tony Romo six times. DE Jason Pierre-Paul has become the most disruptive of the Giants’ pass rushers; he had 16-1/2 sacks during the regular season.

–Mark Maske

By the time Victor Cruz turned the corner on Dallas’ Terence Newman in the first quarter tonight, the Giants’ sideline became a bouncing mass of blue and white waving their slot receiver toward the end zone.

They had seen this before: The way Cruz can catch a sliver of open space and turn the remaining field into a track meet.

They had seen it a week ago when Cruz rendered a flat-footed Jets secondary dumbfounded with a 99-yard catch-and-run that awoke a sleepy Giants offense.

Tonight, Dallas was the victim with a little more than five minutes to play in the first quarter, on a third-and-1.The Cowboys’ secondary tried to chase Cruz 74 yards down field but Newman dove around the 30-yard line and Gerald Sensabaugh gave up around the 10.

“I was just watching myself on the JumboTron just making sure they weren’t too close,” said Cruz, who’s goal this season was just to get one catch in a meaningful regular-season game.

For the second time in as many weeks, Cruz brought the Giants to life with an electric catch-and-run, then delivered a series of decisive blows throughout the game. In the 31-14 win over Dallas in front of 81,077, a victory that gave the Giants the NFC East division title and a berth in the playoffs, he finished with six catches for 178 yards and a touchdown. Over the past two games, he’s had 342 receiving yards.

“I guess it’s just God-given ability,” Cruz said. “When I get the ball in my hands I try and make the most of every play, you know, I try and make the maximum yardage I can get every time I touch the ball.”

Said Giants coach Tom Coughlin: “He just keeps doing it, and thank God he does. I am cheering for him, doing cartwheels on the sidelines as he is running by.”

Unfortunately for Dallas, their Cruz-induced headaches were not limited to that 74-yard touchdown in the first quarter.

On a third-and-7 from the Giants’ 28-yard line in the fourth quarter, Eli Manning spun off pressure in the pocket and hurled one to Cruz 44 yards downfield. The safety went in the opposite direction on Cruz’s seam route, giving Manning the go-ahead to make the throw.

Two plays later, Manning hit Cruz again over the middle for a gain of 20, setting up a 28-yard field goal.

“He’s come up big,” Manning said. “Last year when we lost Steve Smith to an injury we really struggled not having anyone to work the middle of the field. We put a lot on Cruz, he’s done a great job doing that all season.”

The Dallas defense placed a safety over top for some much-needed help. But it didn’t help. The Cowboys tried, and failed, to get inside the receiver’s head. After Laurent Robinson scored on a 6-yard quick-slant touchdown, he broke out in Cruz’s signature touchdown salsa dance.

“I told him if he wants to do my dance, he needs to be a little more fluid, man,” Cruz said.

Conor Orr: corr@starledger.com

Read More: Osi Umenyiora (DE – NYG), Ahmad Bradshaw (RB – NYG), Mario Manningham (WR – NYG), Hakeem Nicks (WR – NYG), Jake Ballard (TE – NYG), Mark Herzlich (LB – NYG), Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants

The New York Giants still have issues at the wide receiver position after Hakeem Nicks missed his second straight day of practice and Mario Manningham was once again limited. Giants head coach Tom Coughlin is hopeful that both will be available to play on Sunday. Nicks did some light running Thursday and assured reporters after practice that he would be on the field Sunday.

Running back Ahmad Bradshaw also sat out Thursday’s practice but he could return to the practice field on Friday.

Here is the full injury report for the New York Giants from Thursday, December 29:

Did not Participate
Jake Ballard (knee)
Ahmad Bradshaw (foot)
Mark Herzlich (ankle)
Hakeem Nicks (hamstring)

Limited Participation
Mario Manningham (knee)
Osi Umenyiora (ankle/knee)

For more on the Cowboys head over to Blogging the Boys, SB Nation’s Dallas Cowboys blog. For more on the Giants head over to Big Blue View, SB Nation’s New York Giants blog. For more on the NFL, visit SB Nation’s NFL news hub.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Coming off one of their best defensive efforts, the New York Giants seemingly are getting another piece back for their NFC East showdown with the Dallas Cowboys.

Two-time Pro Bowl defensive end Osi Umenyiora practiced on a limited basis Wednesday after being sidelined for the month with a high ankle sprain and continuing problems with his knee.

Expect him on the field Sunday night when the Giants (8-7) face the Cowboys (8-7) for the division title and a first-round home game against either Atlanta or Detroit.

“Hey, this is it,” backup defensive end Dave Tollefson said. “Win, you’re in. Lose, you go home. So you might as well pull all the stops and get everybody rolling,”

Umenyiora hurt the ankle – the team has not said which one – in a loss in New Orleans on Nov. 28. He has missed the last four games and many wondered whether he would be back on the field this season.

However, the nine-year veteran looked nimble running with the defensive linemen early in practice.

“He’s tested everything, lots of times,” coach Tom Coughlin said. “That’s what he’s been doing. He’s been working his tail off. He just hasn’t been able to get right.”

Umenyiora did not immediately return an email from The Associated Press seeking comment. He usually talks to reporters on Fridays.

The Giants have not been hurt by Umenyiora’s absence because second-year pro and recent Pro Bowl selection Jason Pierre-Paul has been outstanding starting for him at right end, twice winning NFC defensive player of the week honors.

However, Umenyiora’s addition also comes at a time when fellow two-time Pro Bowl defensive end Justin Tuck is playing his best football after a season marked by neck, groin and toe injuries.

With Umenyiora, Pierre-Paul, Tuck and Mathias Kiwanuka, the Giants will finally have all the part of the third-down pass quartet they envisioned using all season. And some depth.

Pierre-Paul was forced to play more than 100 plays in the Giants’ 29-14 win over the rival Jets at MetLife Stadium.

“That rest will help me a lot and it will get me going,” said Pierre-Paul, who was selected the NFC defensive player of the week on Wednesday for the second time in three weeks. “I was playing like 80 snaps a game and that is a lot. You don’t really think about it, you just have to go.”

Pierre-Paul also won the honor in the Giants 37-34 win over Dallas on Dec. 11. He had eight tackles, two sacks, one of which resulted in a safety, a forced fumble that led to a field goal and blocked Dan Bailey’s tying field goal attempt on the final play of the game.

If the Giants do have everybody back that could make things a little tougher for Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, who intends to play this weekend despite suffering a bruised right hand in 20-7 loss to Philadelphia this past weekend.

“I think that Osi is a good player, so anytime they get another pass rusher it presents more of a challenge,” Romo said in a conference call with New York media. “We have to prepare for that. I think that group up front is an outstanding group and they have three or four guys that you really have to account for. It is going to be a great challenge for our guys up front and for me to see different things and you just have to know that going into the week. We will be prepared for it.”

The Giants’ defense, which ranks 28th in the league, played an outstanding game against the Jets, particularly after yielding a touchdown on the opening drive. It forced three turnovers and held the Jets to 4 of 21 on third-down conversions. The only Jets touchdown in the second half came on an 11-yard drive after an Eli Manning pass was intercepted.

Safety Antrel Rolle said the Giants are willing to pay the price to make the playoffs for the first time since 2008. Nicked players are practicing and the tempo has picked up.

Having Umenyiora back on the field is just another example of that.

“All on deck. We’re all fighting,” Rolle said. “We’re all trying to get better. It means everything to have Osi out there. I know he’s probably not 100 percent, but he’s fighting. He’s fighting. He’s fighting for himself. He’s fighting for this team. He’s fighting for what we have at stake.”

Tackle Chris Canty said having Umenyiora and his seven sacks back just gives the defense another talented player.

“It would be pretty impeccable timing, to get everyone healthy and running,” Tollefson said.

NOTES: WR Hakeem Nicks did not practice because of a recurring hamstring injury. He said he would play Sunday. …WR Mario Manningham, who missed the Jets game with a nagging season-long knee injury, worked on a limited basis. …TE Jake Ballard, who sprained a knee against Washington on Dec. 18 and did not play last week, did some running and light cutting away from the team. He did practice. ….Coughlin, who injured his left leg on Saturday when slammed into by running back D.J. Ware, got a message from Saints coach Sean Payton, who broke his left leg when tight end Jimmy Graham slammed into him on Oct. 16 in a game at Tampa, Fla. “You look like you’re a better athlete than me, you didn’t go down,” Coughlin said Payton told him.

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