Post-game quotebook: Giants react to 25-22 loss to Eagles

What were the obviously disappointed New York Giants saying after Sunday’s butter 25-22 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, their fifth straight at Lincoln Financial Field and one that dropped them to 3-8 on the season?

Let’s go inside the locker room and find out.

Pat Shurmur: “The tale of two halves”

The Giants led 19-11 at the half, scoring on four of their five possessions. They could only generate a field goal in the second half.

“The tale of two halves. I think early on we jumped out to a lead, which was good. In the third quarter, I think just talking it offensively, so we moved the ball fine,” Shurmur said. “In the third quarter, we knocked ourselves off with penalties and sacks and got behind the chains, so you didn’t get a chance to do some of the things you wanted to do. We got back to it a little bit at the end. We moved the ball. We had 11 penalties for 91 yards, unacceptable. Can’t do that.”

Here’s more from the Giants head coach:

On why Saquon Barkley (nine carries, 94 yards in the first half) had only four second-half carries ...

“I think what happened was, we had one series there and we gave it to [Giants RB] Wayne Gallman Jr. He did a good job running the ball; spell him a little bit. I think [Barkley] had 13 rushes and seven catches; touched the ball 20 times. And when we knock ourselves off with penalties, and then sacks, and then all that bad stuff, then you get off schedule trying to get the ball to Saquon and Odell, and the guys that need to touch it.”

On the interception at the end of the first half, which killed a scoring opportunity with the Giants at Philly’s 27-yard line ...

“I’ll take that. We were attacking too deep and that’s not on any of them. That’s on me. ... They just played way, way softer than I thought they would play. That’s all.”

On failing to exploit the Eagles’ depleted secondary ...

“I’m not frustrated. We could have. I just mentioned it. It was the story of the second half, especially early. We weren’t making the yards that we need to on the plays that we called. And we had penalties that knocked us off. So then you get away from the stuff that you certainly would like to do. And that’s the deal. Forget the depleted secondary and all, these are NFL football players that you are playing.

“We took advantage of some things, but it doesn’t make sense to throw every down when you have a running back like Saquon [Barkley]. And we didn’t convert. I mentioned the reason that the drives got knocked off were the issues that I talked about – we didn’t make the yards that we needed, we had penalties that set us back. So when you’re in third-and-long situations, second-and-long situations, the selection of plays and the things that you try to do are different. So we hurt ourselves. It knocks you off schedule.”

Eli Manning: “Bad decision” on interception

Shurmur accepted responsibility for a poor play call on the interception at the end of the half. Manning wasn’t buying:

“Just a bad decision. One hundred percent bad decision on me,” he said. “They were playing soft and I just have to throw that away and try for a long field goal.

“I have to protect that. We had a good call, good play. They were playing so soft I just have to make a better decision and check it down and shorten the field goal right there, which I could have. So that’s on me.”

Saquon Barkley: “Can’t cry” about 3-8

Running back Saquon Barkley tried to put being 3-8 in perspective after the game.

“Yeah it’s definitely a disappointment because we’re all competitors in this league, we’re all competitors on this team, and when you’re 3-8 that’s not something to be happy about. We work our butts off every single week whether it’s in practice or the offseason, your mindset is to go out there and win every single game. Obviously you’re probably not going to win every single game, but you want to win more. More than what we have right now and we’re not on that side. So it’s definitely disappointing being 3-8 but, you can’t cry about it, you can’t complain about it, we have five more games to get better, get back in ready to work tomorrow and keep believing in each other.”

Landon Collins doesn’t know what happened

The Giants went from a 19-3 lead to a 25-22 loss. How?

“I don’t know what changed honestly, I don’t know what changed. They kind of figured something out and kind of rolled with it from that point on,” Collins said.” But, I don’t know, I can’t give you an answer, I have to go and look at it.”