Giants news, 10/31: Saquon Barkley, Shurmur’s message, more

Good morning, New York Giants fans! Here are your Wednesday morning headlines.

Barkley “still learning”

Saquon Barkley is second in the NFL with 1,016 yards from scrimmage (135 behind the Rams Todd Gurley). He has scored seven touchdowns (five rushing, two receiving). With 519 rushing yards and 497 receiving yards he has a chance to become the third player in NFL history to gain 1,000 yards rushing and receiving in the same year (Roger Craig, Marshall Faulk).

Yet, Barkley feels he can get better.

“I’m still learning, still trying to figure out what I can do as a player, what type of player I can be,” Barkley said on Tuesday. “Every day, every time I step out on the field, I’m learning. I’m learning, trying to get better every single day, the good things I do and the things I need to improve on. Definitely just trying to become just an overall better player.”

Shurmur: “Time away not off”

With a bye this week, the Giants won’t practice again until next Tuesday. What was coach Pat Shurmur’s message about the break?

“My message (to the players) will be private,” he said, “but generally in this situation, it’s really time away not time off, the importance of working here is working on fundamentals, I think it’s important they stay in shape. These are just general thoughts, certainly, and I think it’s important that everybody does some self-evaluation of ways they can get better for the last half of the season. And then stay out of trouble.”

“An opportunity in everything”

Veteran EDGE player Connor Barwin has been through good season and bad ones in his 10 years in the NFL.

“There’s an opportunity in everything and this is really bad, but adversity can bring teams together and you could see people’s true colors,” Barwin said. “You can see who’s tough and who wants to be here and all that stuff is what can be happening now over the next two months.”

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