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HOUSTON — Jameis Winston did his job.
Now it’s onto the next.
The acceptable baseline when the backup quarterback must become the starter is for him to figure out a way to be a break-even player. The initial thought with Jaxson Dart was that he suffered a sprain to his medial collateral ligament and that he would miss a month.
So, the Giants — not the coaching staff, mind you — looked at the upcoming schedule and, without ever saying this publicly, privately hoped Winston could help more and hurt less, and navigate the team in his starts to 2-2 before Dart found his way back.
Winston got the team through, going 2-1-1 as the starter to boost and then, remarkably, keep the Giants in first place in the up-for-grabs NFC East. It can be “well done” to Winston and also “that’s enough” for him as well. The next 11 games with him as the starter was a dire projection to the higher-ups in the building. John Harbaugh and his staff decided Winston was not going to be as consistent enough to satisfy the requirements of the position and that his limitations put too many constraints on the offense. So, the decision to move on and give the ball to J.J. McCarthy was made.
This is not the potential start of any J.J. McCarthy Era. It is more the opening of the J.J. McCarthy Experiment. They need him to show that at 23 years old, he has matured from his time with the Vikings and that after the “failed first-round pick” line on his résumé can be something akin to “allowed his talent to come forward in his second NFL stop.” He is not on board to be the quarterback of the future — Dart returns in 2027 — and McCarthy now has a ready-made opportunity to dig in for 11 games and do his best to keep the Giants atop their division.
Someone’s discarded quarterback salvages his career elsewhere. That is what this player and this team have in mind.
“You see it all the time, and I think it’s just a normal thing,” Harbaugh said. “In J.J.’s case, he was really young going in there, and for whatever reason, the expectations now are so high, you got to win right away. If you don’t win, you lose two games and it’s the end of the world, and the quarterback takes a lot of the brunt of that. … Rome wasn’t built in a day. Is that saying? You know, careers either. So this would be a great opportunity for him.”
McCarthy was 6-4 in 10 starts with the Vikings and lit it up in the fourth quarter last week in the Giants’ 34-27 loss to the Saints, subbing for Winston with the Giants down by 24 points. For his first start, McCarthy jumps into the deep end, as his team is a bloated 10.5-point underdog at Houston on Sunday. This is the same Texans team that lost its first four games, but is now 2-4 and still possesses a defense capable of dominating. Will Anderson Jr. leads the league with 7.5 sacks, and the Texans are tied for third in the NFL with 18 sacks.
There is so much in and around the Giants that must improve. Their running backs have been underwhelming. Cam Skattebo is now freed from the bench after his fumbling issues to once again be the top option, along with Tyrone Tracy Jr., another player who had to get back in Harbaugh’s good graces.
The defense last week treated tackling as an optional activity — coordinator Dennard Wilson called out players as being “traitors to the defense” — and stopping the run remains an ongoing concern. And now, the defense will have to go the rest of the way without leading tackler and on-field leader Tremaine Edmunds, out of the season with a shoulder injury.
There is more going on here than McCarthy. He has two ideal targets in Malik Nabers and Isaiah Likely, but additional playmakers must be cultivated. McCarthy should be able to orchestrate an attack that more resembles what the offense was about when Dart was at the controls. But anyone who thinks they know how McCarthy will perform is guessing. The Giants are counting on maturation as a catalyst to producing a more polished quarterback.