The Giants trailed, 20-10, early in the fourth quarter Sunday when Saquon Barkley ripped off an 8-yard run, which is modest, by his standards, but ended up being his longest run of the game. 

Barkley was slammed to the turf on the play and went to the sideline, paced for a bit and then nearly doubled over, looking as if he had tweaked the sore shoulder he left London with last week in the victory over the Packers. 

Barkley was not out for long. He ran for 3 yards, and on the next play, Daniel Jones hit rookie tight end Daniel Bellinger on an 8-yard touchdown hookup. The Giants went on to beat the Ravens, 24-20, and Barkley got better and better as the game wore on. 

“Shoulder is good,’’ Barkley said afterward. 

His performance followed the trend the Giants are developing in the 5-1 start to their season. Barkley was bottled up in the first half, running only six times for 14 yards. He escaped that bottle in the second half, rushing 16 times for 69 yards to finish with 83 yards. He scored the game-winning touchdown on a 1-yard leap into the end zone in the fourth quarter. 

“You’re always trying to get him going, and they know that, too,’’ head coach Brian Daboll said. “They got really good coaches, really good players, and it’s not always going to be pretty. The run game never is. But I thought [offensive coordinator] Mike [Kafka] did a good job of kind of mixing and matching calls, made some timely calls, and eventually he hit on a couple.’’ 

Daboll had some heated words for the offense on the sideline when the Giants were down by 10 points. “Yeah, he was pretty fired up,’’ Daniel Jones said. “I think we all were. He wanted to see a sense of urgency and understanding the point of the game that we were in. We needed to respond as a group, as an offense, and I think that’s what he was communicating.’’ 

DL Leonard Williams after missing the past three games with a sprained knee returned and pounced on Lamar Jackson’s fumble caused by rookie Kayvon Thibodeaux late in the fourth quarter. 

“I actually wanted to pick it up, and then I was like ‘Let me just fall down on it,’ ’’ Williams said. “I knew it was over.’’ 

Williams said he expected his knee to be sore on Monday, but he felt he came out of the game fine. 

Dexter Lawrence dropped Jackson for a 7-yard loss late in the second quarter. It was the fourth sack in six games for Lawrence, who matched his single-season high set in 2020. … LT Andrew Thomas limped off the field at halftime and returned to play in the second half with his left ankle taped. He did not miss any snaps. 

“Sore,” Thomas said. “There’s just a couple plays, nicks and bruises during the game. I’ll be fine.” 

Ravens coach John Harbaugh has a sense of timing. He named OLB Jason Pierre-Paul a game captain. Pierre-Paul started his NFL career with the Giants as a 2010 first round pick. Pierre-Paul started, but he did not record any tackles or quarterback hits. 

WR Kadarius Toney (hamstring) missed his fourth consecutive game. WR Kenny Golladay (knee) missed his second straight game. LB Azeez Ojulari (calf) missed his fourth game of the season. 

Heros

Call it a tie between Julian Love (interception) and Kayvon Thibodeaux (forced fumble), who both forced a takeaway deep in Ravens’ territory in the final three minutes to set up the go-ahead and game-sealing possessions. 

Zero

Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson mishandled a snap, which sent him scrambling after he scooped up the bouncing ball. Love intercepted his all-advised pass. Jackson then was strip-sacked by Thibodeaux. 

Unsung hero

Daniel Jones completed 19 of 27 passes for 173 yards and two touchdowns and was 5-for-5 on the fourth-quarter 75-yard touchdown drive that cut the Giants’ deficit from 20-10 to 20-17. 

Key stat

3 Penalties committed by the smart Giants for 25 yards, compared to the self-inflicted wounds by the Ravens (10 penalties for 74 yards). 

Quote

“Dabes said it: ‘It’s OK to be happy.’ ” 

— Saquon Barkley on the message from head coach Brian Daboll allowing Giants to soak in their surprise 5-1 start instead of just looking at the next game.