Super Bowl Predictions 2012: Why WR Victor Cruz Will Be Nearly Unstoppable

New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz emerged from near obscurity this year to become one of his team's most valuable offensive weapons.

He was in danger of being cut from the team in the preseason, but hung on to become the team's No. 4 receiver headed into the regular season. Because of injuries to Dominik Hixon and Mario Manningham, Cruz was thrust into a starting role and immediately began making his presence felt.

Though Cruz is No. 2 on the depth chart behind Hakeem Nicks, Cruz's regular season numbers are better than Nicks', with 82 receptions for 1,536 yards and nine scores.

He had 11 regular season and one postseason game with 90 or more receiving yards and has the best chance of any Giants wide receiver to go for over 100 yards in Sunday's Super Bowl matchup against the New England Patriots.

The Patriots secondary gave up the second-most passing yards in the 2011 regular season and they haven't improved much in the playoffs.

While they held the Denver Broncos receivers to just 136 total yards in the divisional round, the Patriots gave up 306 passing yards to Joe Flacco and the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC championship game, with Anquan Boldin netting 101 receiving yards and Torrey Smith 82.

At various points in the game, Patriots defenders Devin McCourty, Sterling Moore and Julian Edelman will all be responsible for covering Cruz and if they are to be successful in doing so, will likely have to commit two of them to Cruz on every passing play.

In the NFC Championship Game, Cruz had 142 receiving yards in the first half before being shut out entirely in the second, thanks to the team switching the corner responsible for covering him and keeping a safety on him as well.

The Patriots won't have the luxury of continuously committing so many resources on Cruz this Sunday, with the Giants fielding a trio of dangerous receivers and the Patriots with such a cobbled together group of defensive backs.

Cruz stands to have a monster game in the Super Bowl and should prove to be Eli Manning's most reliable big-play target. There's more than a good chance Cruz ends the day with well over 100 receiving yards and as many as two scores.

He's just too big, too physical and too fast for the smaller Patriots defenders assigned to him. The most they can hope for is to limit his yards after catch, because it's going to be nearly impossible to keep the ball out of Cruz's hands on Sunday.