Giants and Jets, and the Story of the Year So many great stories, so many great angles, from a season of football in New York. But this may be the best tale (and read it here in full). It ties everything together for the Fifth Down, which tries to keep up with the Giants and the Jets, as well as the league. It ties together what might have been the play of the season, the surprise of the season and the player of the season (Victor Cruz in each case). It's about serendipity and skill. And of course there would have to be a Rex Ryan sighting, and we have that, too. As Giants fans know, on Christmas Eve, the team had a 7-7 record, was losing to the Jets late in the first half and was buried with a third-and-10 on its one-yard line. No one in his right mind would have projected the Giants as Super Bowl champions at that moment. The 99-yard touchdown catch-and-run by Cruz changed everything. Mike Garafolo of The Star-Ledger looked back last week at a decision that made that play possible: Put simply: Cruz was almost waived when the Giants trimmed their roster to 53 players in September 2010. Put even more bluntly: For a few minutes, he was waived with the hope he'd go unclaimed and land on the Giants" practice squad. But a few of the decision-makers that day reversed a decision that could've had a huge impact on this Super Bowl season following the loss of wide receiver Steve Smith. Why did the Giants reverse course on waiving Cruz? Here's what the Jets" Ryan said, according to the article, after Cruz scored three touchdowns in a 2010 preseason game against the Jets: "I hope they cut him. I know one team that would be ready to sign him, and that'd be us. Garafolo, again, in last week's article: "He was saved by some upper-echelon Giants front-office people," senior vice president of player evaluation Chris Mara said. I'll put it that way. "He wouldn't have made it to the practice squad," Mara said, indicating a team would've claimed Cruz. I mean, was it a matter of him maybe playing in a Jet uniform? Or in any uniform, for that matter. "No," Mara interjected to emphasize his point. I said in a Jet uniform. Giants General Manager Jerry Reese was quoted as saying: "People call it lucky. I say we got blessed with the situation. I'd rather frame it that way. I'm happy for the kid. He's a local, afterthought free agent and now he's got a podium out there. That's beautiful, man. You can't make that up. Was the quotation from Ryan the difference? Did the Giants hold onto Cruz because of Ryan's big mouth? As a story line in the soap opera of Jets and Giants, it's almost too good to be true. In a way, just like the Giants" season.