New York Giants receiver Rueben Randle believes he’s part of something special this season.
Speaking about the team’s passing game, featuring himself, Eli Manning, Victor Cruz and Odell Beckham Jr., Randle expressed great enthusiasm and offered this red-hot quote:
“I’d say close to unstoppable,” Randle told the New York Daily News. “Just the type of players we have on this side of the ball, if we can protect Eli, give us time to get open downfield, there’s not really a coverage you can put out there to stop us.”
Certainly, Randle isn’t the only player thinking this way. However, he would have been wise to keep this statement to himself, or at least kept it only in the locker room. Saying something like this only serves to lather up one’s opponents—it’s straight-up bulletin-board material.
But this doesn’t mean Randle is wrong.
As part of an outstanding trio of receivers, he’s been the lesser of the three, but many have pegged Randle to break out in his fourth year as a pro. As a starter for most of the 2014 season in place of Cruz, he nearly reached the 1,000-yard mark, catching 71 passes for 938 yards with three touchdowns.
With Cruz well on his way to coming back 100-percent healthy, the Giants are wealthy at the receiver position. Given the way Manning has taken to second-year offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo’s teachings, there is no reason to doubt this offense could be among the league’s best.
Certainly, defenses will focus on Cruz and Beckham Jr. this upcoming season, as they are the team’s two top receivers. This means Randle might find himself wide open on many occasions, with just one defender to beat—a notion he’s extremely excited about.
“If I get overlooked that’s going to be a good thing. There’s going to be a lot of plays where I’m open. There’s going to be a lot of opportunities for me to make plays, and I have to take advantage of it.”
Of course, all this is just idle talk until the real action starts when the Giants travel to Dallas to take on their division rival on Sept. 13 at AT&T Stadium. You can bet the Cowboys will be eager to shut down New York’s hyped offense and make Randle eat his words.