EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- When he couldn't come back for Week 1, the goal he'd set for himself after tearing up his right knee in Philadelphia last October, Victor Cruz took an emotional hit.

"Of course," the New York Giants' wide receiver said Monday. "Obviously, when you battle through that rehab and that process and you set the target for Week 1 and it doesn't happen, it's a little emotional."

This was Cruz speaking at a time when he believed he would finally take the field this week in Buffalo. He was upbeat, excited, optimistic. We didn't get to talk to Cruz on Wednesday, after he tried to practice and couldn't. The left calf injury that has kept him from practicing with his teammates since Aug. 17 and has delayed the process of finding out whether he can fully recover from the knee injury isn't all the way healed yet. And now, once again, no one has any idea when Cruz will return to the field.

Disappointing, without a doubt. And maybe a little shocking, if you believed everything Cruz was saying earlier in the week. Cruz definitely believed it. He posted an online video Sunday proclaiming that he'd be on the field Sunday and did a round of national interviews Tuesday as part of a Snickers promotion. He was back, baby, and he was fired up about it.

But one of the key rules of covering the NFL is to remember that these players are not doctors. They also don't get to make out the lineup. Giants coach Tom Coughlin consistently hedged when asked about Cruz. "Let's see him practice first," Coughlin said over and over again, as recently as Wednesday morning.

Cruz is not the sole governor of his own recovery, and that's the reality that stuck Wednesday. He's going to be ready when and if he's ready -- not when he wants to be ready, not when he wishes he were ready, not when he decides to tell everyone he's ready. Injury recoveries as significant as the one Cruz is attempting are often fraught with setbacks and unforeseen difficulties, and if you'd told Cruz in July that his return from his major knee injury would be delayed by a muscle pull in his other leg, he'd likely have laughed at the idea.

But that's what has happened, and now Cruz's plans revert to reality after spending a week or so at the highest of hopes.

Everybody's rooting for this guy. Cruz is well liked by teammates, coaches, media ... pretty much everyone who's dealt with him on a regular basis. His return from a torn patellar tendon would be a wonderful comeback story. But things don't often go as planned in this world, and the facts of Cruz's case make it clear that he's got a long way to go before we know whether he can make it all the way back.

The next time you hear Cruz say he's ready to return, remember what that is -- excitement and optimism on the part of a guy who wants to play. Just take a breath and remember that he still hasn't practiced in a month and a half and can't will himself to be in shape to play. Sadly, the fun story very often has to take a back seat to reality.