{"id":1038853,"date":"2026-10-27T21:54:19","date_gmt":"2026-10-27T21:54:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/1038853\/"},"modified":"2026-10-27T21:54:19","modified_gmt":"2026-10-27T21:54:19","slug":"the-reason-jj-mccarthly-appeared-a-little-different-in-giants-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/1038853\/","title":{"rendered":"The reason JJ McCarthly appeared a little different in Giants debut"},"content":{"rendered":"

J.J. McCarthy\u2019s Ohio State grudge carried over to his debut as the Giants\u2019 starter.<\/p>\n

McCarthy didn\u2019t wear his typical eye black during their overtime win over the Texans on Sunday<\/a> because the former Michigan signal-caller was facing former Buckeyes quarterback C.J. Stroud \u2014 and, dating back to college, he reportedly wants them to look at his face after he beats them. <\/p>\n

He was offered by Ohio State in high school but felt that he was \u201clied\u201d to throughout the process, he told The Athletic in 2019.<\/p>\n

\"J.J.J.J. McCarthy of the Giants \u2014\u00a0without his signature eye black \u2014 celebrates after defeating the Houston Texans at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026. Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a little corny,\u201d McCarthy said, \u201cdon\u2019t get me wrong. It is for sure. But I guess I\u2019m a corny guy. I took it personal in high school, growing up an Ohio State fan, like a diehard Ohio State fan \u2014 had the comforter, had the fatheads, everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

McCarthy said his tradition will continue for the rest of his career, though it\u2019s \u201cstrictly\u201d reserved for Stroud, maybe Dolphins backup Kyle McCord and then Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day if he ever \u201ccomes up to the NFL.\u201d <\/p>\n

McCarthy won all three of his games against the Buckeyes when at Michigan, while also securing a national championship with the Wolverines before getting selected at No. 10 overall in 2024 by Vikings. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

He emerged with a victory against Stroud in Houston on Sunday. <\/p>\n

McCarthy took over for a benched Jameis Winston in Week 6, went 20-for-28 for 252 yards, adding to his fourth quarter from the Saints game the week prior when he threw for 243 yards in a frantic comeback that fell just short.<\/p>\n

\"HoustonHouston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud (7) greets New York Giants quarterback J.J. McCarthy (18) after a game at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/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

\u201cWe play in the entertainment business and I can see how that gets a lot of traction, but at the end of the day, it\u2019s just something I hold near and dear to my heart,\u201d McCarthy, who the Giants acquired from Minnesota after Jaxson Dart\u2019s injury, said of his eye black removal for games with Ohio State connections.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"J.J. McCarthy\u2019s Ohio State grudge carried over to his debut as the Giants\u2019 starter. McCarthy didn\u2019t wear his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1038854,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2056],"tags":[1028,7,221,253,2368,1519,71,56,6,69,9,222],"class_list":["post-1038853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston-texans","tag-c-j-stroud","tag-football","tag-houston","tag-houston-texans","tag-houstontexans","tag-j-j-mccarthy","tag-michigan-wolverines","tag-new-york-giants","tag-nfl","tag-ohio-state-buckeyes","tag-sports","tag-texans"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/117515103007740854","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1038853","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=1038853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1038853\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1038854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1038853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1038853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1038853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}