EAST RUTHERFORD - In a quest to rediscover his game with the Giants, J.J. McCarthy has also found his voice.
Offensive coordinator Matt Nagy spearheaded the challenge of creating a player-driven offense centered around the diversified skill set of Jaxson Dart, and what the Giants developed in terms of identity and influence lasted one game and seven snaps.
Calling plays that fit Jameis Winston just because Dart and the coaching staff liked them wasn't going to happen.
And now that McCarthy is taking over as the starting quarterback of John Harbaugh's Giants, it does nobody here any good to ignore what pages of the playbook the new QB1 for Big Blue might like best.
It's one of the biggest lessons learned the past two years by the 23-year-old McCarthy, and heading into Sunday's game in Houston against the Texans, despite the ups and downs that led to his unceremonious exit in Minnesota, he is putting the knowledge gained to the test and doing what he rarely did with the Vikings.
This time, McCarthy is unafraid to speak up. That's part of taking ownership and accepting the responsibility that comes with holding the job.
"That's definitely a process that I think a lot of young quarterbacks go through, where you have to be able to tell them what you're comfortable with," McCarthy said. "It can't just be an, ‘I love everything, coach,’ because you're trying to please them. It's got to be on the same page in every single play, every single situation, just knowing what to do. And I've been very vocal the last couple days, and we're going to continue to have great conversations moving forward."
This isn't McCarthy demanding what he wants to run out of the Giants' playbook, of course. The brain trust of Nagy, quarterbacks coach/pass game coordinator Brian Callahan and senior assistant Greg Roman - not to mention the philosophical approach Harbaugh desires - are charged with making all of this fit to McCarthy and what he does best.
So how different will the Giants be offensively with McCarthy in for Winston? That's impossible to completely nail down, given how the struggles in the run game with the backs and the offensive line have contributed to knocking the offense off track. Harbaugh loved the idea of "living in different worlds" with Dart, and his versatility as a playmaker - both as a passer and a runner - was a threat.
That element may have disappeared with the 32-year-old Winston over the past four games, but make no mistake, McCarthy is going to help the Giants bring some of that back.
"There are types of plays, probably, that will be more in J.J.'s world that weren't as quite as much in Jameis's world, probably, and plays that were in Jameis's world that wouldn't be in J.J.'s world quite as much," Harbaugh said. "But the concepts are still there, the blocking schemes are the same. It's not going to be a big adjustment for the rest of the guys. You know, I'm not going say it's not a work in progress. Everything is a work in progress."
McCarthy stayed on the field after practice Wednesday working on timing with receivers Malik Nabers, rookie Malachi Fields and Darnell Mooney, and that should continue for the foreseeable future. The first time he threw passes to Nabers and emerging star tight end Isaiah Likely was in the fourth quarter of Sunday's 34-27 loss to the Saints,
"Every time you step on the field, it's an opportunity," McCarthy said. "Whether you're the starting guy, whether you’re not, you have a chance to prove yourself, prove it to your peers, and prove it to everyone around you. And at the end of the day, I approach it the same way. How can I attack that next rep, how can I win this day and go from there."
Escaping the Houston pass rush
Will Anderson (7.5 sacks) and Danielle Hunter (3.0 sacks) are going to hunt the pocket. What McCarthy can prevent the Texans from doing is plastering the Giants' receivers and strictly playing coverage while their rushers come after him.
There were two plays that Houston must circle from the fourth quarter Sunday.
The first was McCarthy's 46-yard strike to Nabers on which he eluded the rush, climbing the pocket into a void and fired without hesitation downfield, giving his best playmaker a chance to make the catch. Winston's not making that play, certainly not as smooth.
And the second was McCarthy's 28-yard scramble in the game's final minute when the Texans over-pursued, forgetting just how effective he can be with his legs in the open field.
Run, J.J., run
McCarthy isn't to the level of Dart as a runner, but he's more of a threat than Winston, which should give the Giants' dormant ground game a boost. The Giants will run some RPO and zone option reads, and both will be harder to sit on for opponents unlike the limited sub-packages McCarthy had been used in the past two games.
In Minnesota, McCarthy often held the ball too long waiting for receivers to uncover before relying on his throwing velocity to fit passes in tight windows. Where he needs to improve with the Giants is on throwing with anticipation, layering his throws to the intermediate and deeper levels of the field against various coverages.
Playing with confidence, trust
The timing of Harbaugh's decision to go to McCarthy provides a big boost of confidence for a quarterback who seemingly doubted whether the head coach in Kevin O'Connell and team brass truly believed he was the man for the job. Sam Darnold. Daniel Jones. Flirting with Aaron Rodgers. Kyler Murray. Carson Wentz.
Having to constantly look over his shoulder, despite his 6-4 record in 10 starts, McCarthy lost faith and confidence.
When McCarthy became a Giant, traded here for a 2027 fifth-round pick, he arrived not with a chip on his shoulder to prove the Vikings wrong - he set out to prove Harbaugh and Co. right. He was viewed as an immature prospect during the run-up to the 2024 NFL Draft, and the Giants did not think he'd fit with that team, that coaching staff at that time.
Two years later, the Giants made a bold move to bring him to a team that now sits atop the NFC East standings - despite its two worst performances of the season in back-to-back weeks - and holds a two-game lead in the loss column.
"I saw a lot of talent, and I saw a guy that I thought could do the things that we want to do on offense, for sure," Harbaugh said. "I have to give our scouts in the building a lot of credit. They were excited about that opportunity. As far as the players - yeah, the players, they always need to see it. The players go by what they see. A lot of times the players know more than anybody who the good players are. They're the ones out there playing with them. But I think the last couple weeks, they've had a chance to see him practice, and then they're pretty fired up about it."
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: How the Giants offense changes with J.J. McCarthy at quarterback