Guyism sat down with the New York Jets’ Chris Ivory and New York Giants’ wide receiver Victor Cruz to promote Xbox One’s prediction contest with the console’s NFL app. And when we left, we had learned a whole lot more about the locker room reaction to dick pics, Jay-Z, and the NFL concussion crisis.
The biggest recent news out of Jets camp, other than coach Rex Ryan surviving this year, is Geno Smith’s unfortunate dick pic scandal that resulted in his exposed member hitting the Web for all to see.
Edelman
When we asked Ivory and Cruz about how the locker rooms might react to such a mini-scandal, it was the first they’d heard about the situation in which a girl Smith was friendly with had leaked photos of him to the media. But Ivory had some advice for Geno and other players out there, explaining how he approaches things.
“That’s why you approach it as if she’s going to do something like that,” Ivory told us. “That’s how I would I approach it. I just feel like you can’t trust stuff like that. Pictures over the texts, it could be screenshot, just like she did. Try to expose you. That happens to a lot of guys, man.”
Despite Jay-Z’s management company, Roc Nation, handling the situation somewhat poorly by threatening to sue sites that ran the photos, Cruz explained why he felt fully comfortable as the first big name to hop on board with Jay-Z as his agent.
“We were friends to begin with so we’d had conversations about everything,” Cruz explained. “Signing with [Jay-Z], looking at his track record with things that he’s done, he hasn’t taken a loss. Any deal, anything personal that he’s done, anything he’s wanted to do…he hasn’t lost yet. So if there was something he wanted to do with sports, he would approach it the same way he did any of his other ventures. Why not be the first?”
There’s been a lot of noise made about the NFL’s efforts to keep its players safe. But Ivory, who’s been called a “physical, violent runner” by his own GM John Idzik, and Cruz, who makes a living going over the middle against vicious linebackers, don’t necessarily feel safer playing the game.
“I feel like it takes away from the game a little bit,” Ivory told Guyism. “Defensively, it’s tough on those guys.”
“That’s what people want to see, the physicality of the game,” Ivory continued. “But hopefully it keeps guys safe coming across the middle like this guy, right here.”
Cruz wasn’t as optimistic. When we asked him if he feels more comfortable going over the middle, Cruz flatly replied, “No.”
“You can’t go out there and play with fear, that’s only going to get you hurt,” Cruz said. “You’ve just got to go out there…and pray for the best.”
But is the league actually getting safer? Cruz would like to think so. But the stats don’t necessarily back that up.
“I do think the league has gotten safer,” Cruz said. “But it’s tough to say being that the Kansas City game [against the Indianapolis Colts] alone had four concussions. But I do think they’re making strides to make things safer.”
Since the event was about the Xbox One’s NFL app where fans can answer questions and make predictions to enter to win tickets to attend the Super Bowl XLVIII, Super Bowl XLIX, and other prizes, Cruz left us with one big prediction about what to expect during this year’s NFL playoffs.
“I’ve got to go with Peyton Manning [for the longest pass play of the playoffs]. He’s got the most weapons to stretch the field. He’s been doing it all year.”
We’ll see if Victor Cruz’s prediction on the Xbox One’s NFL app comes to fruition this weekend.
Interview conducted by Guyism’s Cass Anderson
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