Dallas Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant couldn't resist copying Victor Cruz's touchdown Salsa dance when he scored against the New York Giants in Week 14, but Big Blue and Cruz would have the last laugh, winning 37-34 after quarterback Eli Manning engineered a double-digit, fourth-quarter comeback and defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul blocked a potential game-tying, 47-yard field goal attempt with 1 second left to play.
Thanks to this year's schedule, Bryant and Cruz will see each other this Sunday night at MetLife Stadium, where their teams are going to settle the NFC East division.
Despite the acrimony between Dallas (8-7) and New York (8-7) and the teams' respective fan bases, Cruz, an admitted Cowboys fan growing up, was somewhat flattered by Bryant's gesture in Week 14, recently telling Yahoo! Contributor Network that "It was cool."
"I guess he liked it, so he wanted to copy it," he said. "So I'm not knocking him. He's a receiver, so it's cool.
"Everybody has their different reasons," Cruz added. "But, obviously, it's something that other people probably never thought of and they think it's cool, so they want to take it."
In Big Blue's 29-14 win over the New York Jets last Saturday, Cruz caught three passes for 164 yards. Most of that yardage was accumulated when Manning, after taking a snap at New York's own 1-yard line in the second quarter, threw an 11-yard pass to Cruz, who then broke multiple tackles and scored a 99-yard TD. The receiver did his dance after that long dash, then broke the Giants' single-season record for most receiving yards with a 36-yard reception late in the third quarter.
The catch in question elevated Cruz, who has 76 receptions for 1,358 yards and eight TDs this season, above Amani Toomer's 2002 total of 1,343 receiving yards.
As for Cruz's well known and—since Week 14—imitated end zone celebration, the 25-year-old says it's his way of paying homage to those who've played an important part in his life.
"I just do celebrations just to honor people that I love and people that I grew up with and that molded my life," he said. "That's [who] I choose to do it for."
Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.
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