Post-game quotebook: What the Giants were saying after their first win of the season

The New York Giants got their first win of the season on Sunday, taking down the Houston Texans 27-22. Let’s look at what team members were saying after the game.

Head coach Pat Shurmur on the fourth-quarter scoring drive

“Again, we found a way to finish the game,” Shurmur said. “We started with a nice play to Shep, then we ran the ball a little bit. We found a way to complete some passes, and then obviously at the end, score there. They’re very dangerous especially when they get in those situations where they get you all spread out, which you saw before the half and at the end of the game.”

Shurmur on Chad Wheeler’s performance at right tackle

“It’s [benching Ereck Flowe4rs] probably more about Chad and less about Ereck,” Shurmur said. “I just felt like it was time for Chad to get an opportunity to play. It is super important that those guys play hard and play together, and I thought they did that. A couple times, he got beat, but Chad fought his way through it. I’ll have to watch the film in detail. I hate to say that. I thought for the most part he competed and battled, so we’ll see where we go from here.”

Saquon Barkley on being in a winning NFL locker room

“It feels really good,” Barkley said. “I kind of just knew we were going to win this game just the way we were in the locker room before the game. It was different than the first two games how the energy was different, the way we looked in warmups was different. It was just a different vibe. Obviously, we got off to a great start and that’s something that we really focused on this week. Coach (Pat Shurmur) challenged us this week to come out and have a fast start and we were able to do that on both sides of the ball. Obviously, we have to play a little better in the second half. But, it’s the NFL and they’re not just going to just sit down and let you run up the scoreboard. They played a heck of a game. You have to give credit to those guys especially number 99 (J.J. Watt). Ninety-nine is by far the best player I’ve personally going up against. It was a great game. But, we found a way to get a win this week.”

Odell Beckham Jr. on what this win says about this team

“It says that we’re 1-2,” Beckham said. “We have to get some more wins and start putting them together. We can’t get too far ahead of ourselves, because it’s just one game. Now we have to start tacking it on, build off this today and keep improving.”

Eli Manning on spreading the ball around

“Yeah, I think so. I think you want to get everyone involved,” Manning said. “The more guys ... I thought he [Shurmur] called a good game, mixed up the run, the pass, the play action. Some boot legs and stuff got us on the edge. Especially going against a good front that likes to pass rush, so it helped us hit some big plays and get off to a fast start. Again, we needed a drive at the end to secure the win and we were able to do it.”