<\/p>\n
New York Giants head coach John Harbaugh, front right, celebrates with Tyrone Tracy Jr., left, after an overtime win over the Houston Texans in an NFL football game in Houston, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026.<\/p>\n
Gerald Herbert\/AP Photo\/Gerald Herbert<\/p>\n
New York Giants running back Cam Skattebo celebrates in the end zone after his touchdown during the second half of an NFL football game against the Houston Texans in Houston, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026.<\/p>\n
Eric Smith\/AP Photo\/Eric Smith<\/p>\n
New York Giants wide receiver Malik Nabers (1) celebrates with Malachi Fields (88) after catching a pass for a touchdown during the second half of an NFL football game against the Washington Commanders in Landover, Md., Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026.<\/p>\n
Stephanie Scarbrough\/AP Photo\/Stephanie Scarbrough<\/p>\n
New York Giants head coach John Harbaugh, right, celebrates with safety Tyler Nubin (27), and quarterback J.J. McCarthy, center, following an overtime win over the Houston Texans in an NFL football game in Houston, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026.<\/p>\n
Eric Smith\/AP Photo\/Eric Smith<\/p>\n
New York Giants quarterback J.J. McCarthy talks with reporters following an NFL football game against the Houston Texans in Houston, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026.<\/p>\n
Gerald Herbert\/AP Photo\/Gerald Herbert<\/p>\n
When quarterback Jaxson Dart went down with a left knee injury on the night of Sept. 21, the New York Giants lost their most important offensive player for the remainder of the regular season and got routed by the Los Angeles Rams.<\/p>\n
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Less than a week later, edge rusher Brian Burns tearing ligaments in his right knee meant they’d be without their most important defensive player the rest of the way. Later it was returner Braxton Berrios and then inside linebacker Tremaine Edmunds.<\/p>\n
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Despite those absences and some stumbles along the way, the Giants are in the driver’s seat to win the woebegone NFC East with a record of 4-2-1. But with several other key players banged up, their bye week did not arrive a moment too soon to heal up for the stretch run.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s coming at the right time for us,\u201d coach John Harbaugh said. \u201cThere are a lot of little nicks and bumps and bruises and strains and stresses on guys\u2019 bodies that can use a little recovery time.”<\/p>\n
Standout left tackle Andrew Thomas has been gutting through a groin injury, right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor has a calf injury, cornerback Greg Newsome and Jevon Holland missed the game last weekend at Houston because of concussions and tight end Theo Johnson sat out the past two with a neck injury. Running back Tyrone Tracy is out the next four after injuring a hamstring.<\/p>\n
So far, the depth on the roster that wasn’t present in previous years has come through \u2014 along with the key trade for J.J. McCarthy. New York is the first team since New England a decade ago to have three different QBs win a game before November.<\/p>\n
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Those Patriots went on to win the Super Bowl. That would be an outsized expectation for the Giants, but making the playoffs and hosting a wild-card game isn’t out of the realm of possibility given their start.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m happy where we are,\u201d general manager Joe Schoen told reporters Tuesday at his annual bye week news conference. \u201cI really like the team. I like the makeup of the players, the grit. … Each team takes on a personality of its own, but I\u2019m really happy about where the guys are. They\u2019ve earned the right to be in first place in the NFC East, and we have meaningful games ahead of us that I\u2019m looking forward to.\u201d<\/p>\n
This time last year, the Giants were early in a losing streak that cost coach Brian Daboll his job. Top receiver Malik Nabers was set for a long rehab of his significant knee injury, and exciting rookie running back Cam Skattebo had just undergone surgery to repair a gruesome broken fibula and dislocated ankle.<\/p>\n
Now, Nabers has eclipsed 100 yards receiving in four consecutive games, Skattebo atoned for a fumble that led to getting no carries the following game and Harbaugh isn’t shying away from talking to players about winning the division.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe\u2019ll bring it up every now and then,\u201d Harbaugh said. \u201cIt\u2019s definitely always forefront because that\u2019s the ultimate goal.”<\/p>\n
The biggest reason for optimism is McCarthy, the 10th pick in the 2024 draft by Minnesota who struggled to get his footing there and is benefitting from a change of scenery following a late-September trade. McCarthy supplanted Jameis Winston as the starter and beat the Texans on Sunday in overtime, completing 20 of 28 passes for 252 yards.<\/p>\n
That was only McCarthy’s 11th NFL start. He began feeling comfortable late in his time with the Vikings, but now is getting the chance to show what he can do in New York now that the role is his for the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s one of those things where you think you\u2019re starting over, but no, you\u2019re starting from experience,\u201d McCarthy said in Houston. “To be able to be plugged into this group and this culture, I\u2019m just extremely honored.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The Giants visit Philadelphia \u2014 without Jalen Hurts \u2014 on Nov. 8 in their first game out of the bye, followed by home games against Washington in prime time on Nov. 12 and Jacksonville on Nov. 22. Harbaugh during his 18 seasons with Baltimore was 15-3 after a bye, a winning percentage of .833 that is the best of any coach in the Super Bowl era.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we just come back and play really well the week after the bye,\u201d Harbaugh said. \u201cThat\u2019s the secret formula: Play good football.\u201d<\/p>\n
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See AP\u2019s full NFL coverage here<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York Giants head coach John Harbaugh, front right, celebrates with Tyrone Tracy Jr., left, after an overtime…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1040609,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2056],"tags":[8190,6050,1483,200,746,7,7987,221,253,2368,1519,492,1801,13,1239,3924,201,2909,4126,6,134918,27878,27876,116776,116509,115180,222,5048,7401,4565],"class_list":["post-1040608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston-texans","tag-andrew-thomas","tag-braxton-berrios","tag-brian-burns","tag-brian-daboll","tag-cam-skattebo","tag-football","tag-greg-newsome","tag-houston","tag-houston-texans","tag-houstontexans","tag-j-j-mccarthy","tag-jalen-hurts","tag-jameis-winston","tag-jaxson-dart","tag-jermaine-eluemunor","tag-jevon-holland","tag-joe-schoen","tag-john-harbaugh","tag-malik-nabers","tag-nfl","tag-ny-giants-nfc-east","tag-package-100502-member-choice-sports-option","tag-product-30599-ap-sports-news-s-wire-only","tag-product-40800-ap-new-jersey-sports-only","tag-product-40802-ap-new-york-city-sports-only","tag-product-40803-ap-new-york-state-sports-only","tag-texans","tag-theo-johnson","tag-tremaine-edmunds","tag-tyrone-tracy"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1040608","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=1040608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1040608\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1040609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1040608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1040608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1040608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}