The New York Giants have apparently made a decision on who their starting quarterback will be for this weekend's game against the Houston Texans. The current plan is for JJ McCarthy to get the start, according to ESPN, with Jameis Winston backing him up. McCarthy, who was traded from Minnesota earlier this season, is in line to make his first career start for the Giants, who are currently sitting atop the NFC East division with a 3-2-1 record.
The Giants initially turned to Winston after Jaxson Dart suffered a season-ending injury in Week 2. As he is known to do, Winston had both good and bad moments over the past five games. He played well enough, though, to post a 2-1-1 record as the Giants' starting quarterback.
Winston struggled on this past Sunday, and he was replaced in the second half by McCarthy, who engineered three fourth-quarter scoring drives. The comeback fell short, however, as the Saints left New Jersey with a 34-27 win. Harbaugh, as expected, was asked on Monday if Winston would be his starting quarterback for the Giants' upcoming road game against the Houston Texans.
"We're working through that now, honing in on a decision," Harbaugh said. Harbaugh has apparently chosen McCarthy, who has displayed flashes of the player that compelled Minnesota to take him with the 10th overall pick in the 2024 draft. Injuries and inconsistent play, however, prevented McCarthy from having more success with the Vikings, who are off to a 5-0 start this season with Kyler Murray at quarterback.
"I think he's a strong, young quarterback, has some experience in the National Football League," Harbaugh said of McCarthy shortly after the Giants traded for him. "Obviously, was a very high draft pick, very talented player and is going to make us a stronger football team." In 12 career games, McCarthy has completed just 57.2% of his passes with more interceptions (13) than touchdown passes (12). He has five touchdowns on the ground and an impressive 5.1 yards-per-carry average.
Sunday's game was a microcosm of McCarthy's career up to this point. Despite having an underwhelming stat sheet, he was nonetheless able to engineer several successful scoring drives that got the Giants back in the game. McCarthy will face a Texans team that is finding its rhythm after a slow start to the season.
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