New York Giants' news and notes: Tired of the talk edition

Good morning, New York Giants' fans! Here is your Wednesday morning bye-week notebook as the Giants lick their wounds and heal their bruises following two straight losses.

Giants’ Wide Receiver Victor Cruz: ‘We Can’t Have Any Lapses’ " CBS New York
"We have to understand we can’t have any lapses in these upcoming weeks. We’ve got to be able to play strong and play like we’re the defending champs," Cruz said.

The Giants’ star receivers thinks he and his teammates have what it takes to fight through and keep their focus.

"We can fight through a tough skid," he stated. "We have the resiliency to do it. As a team, we have to be careful not to rely on that too much. We have to continue to stay focused and understand we have to go into these games and win them."

Stapleton: Giants need to sever ties with 2011 : page all - NorthJersey.com
if the reigning Super Bowl champions are going to take a good long look in the mirror this week, as Tom Coughlin, Justin Tuck and others suggested they would, they also need to remember just how difficult that road to a coronation was.

The predicament in which the Giants find themselves has very little connection to the one from which they rallied to win the franchise’s fourth Vince Lombardi Trophy.

Which is why the Giants of 2012 would be best served to completely sever ties with the Giants of 2011 during this next week or so, forgetting that even took place.

Valentine's View: I agree with this. Just because the Giants bounced back last season does not mean they will do it again. The Giants have put themselves in a situation much more difficult than it had to be, and have only themselves to blame.

Giants' Antrel Rolle on loss to Bengals: 'We gave them at least 21 of those points, easily' | NJ.com
"They didn't do anything remarkable. We gave them at least 21 of those points, easily," Rolle said in a radio interview on WFAN. "It's something that can easily be fixed and something that we know we were wrong 100 percent of the way. We got to get back to the basics and get back to playing football the way we know how to play football and being a disciplined unit because that's what gave us the run that we went on last season."

Valentine's View: I absolutely hate quotes like this. This is the Rolle version of DeAngelo Hall saying the Washington Redskins gave the Giants a victory a few weeks ago. I also get tired of the "it can be easily fixed" quotes that come from the Giants -- especially the defensive players -- week after week after week. Largely because the big plays and communication breakdowns keep happening, the shoddy tackling keeps popping up, the sub-par run defense rears its head every couple of weeks and the pass rush shows up only occasionally. If it's all so easy to fix, then FIX IT!

The Giants, first-round picks and patience - NFL Nation Blog - ESPN
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers jumped ahead of the New York Giants in the draft to take running back Doug Martin, who ran for 251 yards two weeks ago.

What's Jerrel Jernigan's role with the New York Giants? - Dothan Eagle: Extra Points
Jernigan has only played in three games this year, though he did catch his first NFL pass against the Cleveland Browns earlier this season. But New York Giants general manager Jerry Reese recently spoke highly of Jernigan, according to Newsday.

"Really the guy who hasn't gotten a great opportunity to do a lot who we still like is [Jerrel] Jernigan," he said.

"We think he's a talented football player and really hasn't had a lot of chances. That's a good thing if you have players stacked at a position and you can't get a player who you think has talent out there yet to display his talent. But I think his time will come at some point."

Patriots sign former Giants G Mitch Petrus - Yahoo! Sports
From Yahoo! Sports: FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) -- The New England Patriots have signed guard Mitch Petrus to shore up their battered offensive line,