{"id":1032154,"date":"2026-10-19T23:48:20","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T23:48:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/1032154\/"},"modified":"2026-10-19T23:48:20","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T23:48:20","slug":"giants-questions-loom-over-jameis-winston-j-j-mccarthy-decision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/1032154\/","title":{"rendered":"Giants questions loom over Jameis Winston-J.J. McCarthy decision"},"content":{"rendered":"

If J.J. McCarthy was guaranteed to throw for 943 yards, rush for 104 yards and lead 12 scoring drives in his next start, then the Giants wouldn\u2019t have a quarterback controversy on their hands.<\/p>\n

But, of course, it\u2019s preposterous to conclude McCarthy\u2019s fourth-quarter production against the Saints should be quadrupled to determine what he could do over the course of a full game.<\/p>\n

So, head coach John Harbaugh continued to \u201chone in on\u201d whether McCarthy or Jameis Winston (2-1-1 as the starter) will start Sunday against the Texans. Monday passed without a decision<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cJameis has done a great job in so many ways \u2026 and did what he had to do to win games, and that\u2019s something you value very much,\u201d Harbaugh said. \u201cJ.J. just got here [via trade] a couple weeks ago, and where do we stand? We\u2019re trying to put an offense together that he has a feel for.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are extenuating circumstances \u2014 a 24-point deficit, a no-huddle offense, soft defensive coverage, abandonment of the run game, an opponent that temporarily removed starters, to name a few \u2014 to consider when judging whether McCarthy\u2019s performance<\/a> suggests he should be the starter and the Giants should change their identity to become more up-tempo and pass-oriented.<\/p>\n

The Giants snapped the ball every 14.6 seconds of possession with McCarthy in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n

\"NewQuarterback Jameis Winston #19 of the New York Giants calls a play against the Saints. Robert Sabo for NY Post<\/p>\n

\u201cThat kind of an offense has been tried \u2014 you see it in college sometimes with teams that run no-huddle all the time or the run-and-shoot was like that,\u201d Harbaugh said. \u201cIt hasn\u2019t really proven to be sustainable. It\u2019s one-dimensional. It invites a lot of issues for your offense from a pass-rush standpoint if you don\u2019t keep people honest. Just like running the ball every play \u2014 three yards and a cloud of dust \u2014 is not sustainable. It\u2019s been proven over time that being more balanced [is better].\u201d<\/p>\n

Except that the Giants are struggling to create balance because their rushing attack ranks No. 22 with 3.8 yards per carry. Fumble-prone Cam Skattebo was punished by getting no touches<\/a> against the Saints.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot having an efficient run game causes the defenses to stay too high,\u201d receiver Malik Nabers said, \u201cand they are able to double-team and try to take us out of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

One week ago, the stagnant Winston-led offense came alive under similar hurry-up circumstances during a 14-point fourth-quarter comeback. Winston threw three touchdown passes.<\/p>\n

\"NewQuarterback J.J. McCarthy #18 of the New York Giants looks for the open man against the Saints. Bill Kostroun for NY Post<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGo behind the scenes with Big Blue\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Giants by Paul Schwartz, a weekly Sports+ exclusive.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can do it, but I don\u2019t think that\u2019s something you want to do,\u201d running back Tyrone Tracy Jr. said. \u201cYou don\u2019t want to rely on going up-tempo the whole time. That\u2019s more of a change-up.\u201d<\/p>\n

That style is the opposite of the physical, ball-control identity that Harbaugh sought to build before quarterback Jaxson Dart\u2019s season-ending injury.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just have to be honest with ourselves in the film room,\u201d tight end Isaiah Likely said. \u201cUnderstand and realize, being truthful, about what offense we want to be.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

McCarthy\u2019s 4.9 air yards per attempt and 17.2 air yards per completion were the most by a quarterback with at least 20 dropbacks in a game this season, according to NextGenStats. He was worth 4.7 expected points added through the air.<\/p>\n

McCarthy\u2019s play style is well-suited for mounting comebacks. He led the NFL last season with 9.3 air yards per attempt and a 42.4 percent downfield throw rate.<\/p>\n

It is yet to be determined \u2014 including through his 10 career starts with the Vikings \u2014 if he is suited for managing a four-quarter offense.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to be a team that could play a very balanced type of attack \u2026 and a lot of different styles,\u201d Harbaugh said. \u201cWhen we lost Jaxson that made it tough for us to be what we wanted to be. That changed everything. We were trying to find ourselves for a few weeks there \u2014 we still have been, obviously.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe thing that\u2019s important to remember is we are most definitely a work in progress. It\u2019s our responsibility to find ourselves and put together the type of football team that can go get what we want. It could be a little different range, but in that 60-40 [run-pass] range either way, what are we going to be doin\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n

Similar to McCarthy, Winston likes to make aggressive throws into tight windows. He just doesn\u2019t add the same level of athleticism<\/a> and rushing threat that the Giants have missed since Dart\u2019s injury.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we go that way, [J.J.] opens up some things that we wouldn\u2019t be doing with Jameis, for sure,\u201d Harbaugh said. \u201cThen there\u2019s some things that Jameis does that hit his strengths.\u201d<\/p>\n

McCarthy was bailed out by some circus catches in coverage to get his completion percentage over expected to plus-8.5 percent.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t describe it as backyard football,\u201d Likely said. \u201cObviously, we have plays, but knowing that we had to push the ball down the field and be able to give your playmakers [a chance].\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If J.J. McCarthy was guaranteed to throw for 943 yards, rush for 104 yards and lead 12 scoring…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1032155,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2067],"tags":[7,519,1519,1801,1917,56,2321,2469,6,9],"class_list":["post-1032154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-giants","tag-football","tag-giants","tag-j-j-mccarthy","tag-jameis-winston","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-giants","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkgiants","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/117470252952008117","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1032154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1032154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1032154\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1032155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1032154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1032154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1032154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}