Randle: Giants' Receiving Corps Could Be 'Unstoppable' This Season
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The Giants are going to score points this season, and they know it.
Quarterback Eli Manning threw for 4,410 yards and 30 touchdowns last season -- and he did it without Victor Cruz for the final 10 games and Odell Beckham Jr. for the first four games.
So you'll have to excuse Rueben Randle for being just a bit excited about the potential of the Big Blue passing game in 2015 now that it has a healthy Cruz and Beckham, plus himself and veteran James Jones running around out there.
"I'd say close to unstoppable," Randle said of the offense when speaking to the Daily News on Thursday. "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."
The Giants have a combination of speed, extremely good route runners and guys who excel in the red zone.
Cruz said recently he's fully recovered from the knee injury that ended his 2014 season early and should be the same big-play threat he was when he caught a combined 148 passes for more than 2,600 yards from 2011-12.
Beckham needed just 12 games to amass 91 receptions, 1,305 yards and 12 TDs as a rookie last season.
Randle is coming off the best season of his short career, catching 71 passes for 938 yards and three TDs.
Then there is offseason acquisition James Jones, who had 310 receptions for the Green Bay Packers from 2007-13, including a career-high 14 TD grabs in 2012, before hauling in 73 passes last season as part of an offense in Oakland that struggled at times under rookie quarterback Derek Carr.
"This is one of the more talented teams I've been a part of," Randle said. "Really, the sky is the limit for us."
The Giants also added versatile running back Shane Vereen, who caught 99 passes over the previous two seasons with the New England Patriots, to a unit that also includes developing tight end Larry Donnell, owner of 63 catches and 623 yards a season ago.
Randle said if he gets lost in the shuffle a bit he won't be overly concerned, because teams are going to have a hard time matching the Giants' firepower and winning is the bottom line.
"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," Randle said. "There's going to be a lot of opportunities for me to make plays, and I have to take advantage of it."
