New York Giants quarterback J.J. McCarthy | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Co Chris Pflum Sat, October 24, 2026 at 3:53 PM UTC · 3 min read About Our Ads Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The New York Giants made news this week when the team made the decision to go with J.J. McCarthy as their starting quarterback against the Houston Texans.
McCarthy has only been in the building since the Giants traded a 2027 fifth round to the Minnesota Vikings for him on September 28th. Backup quarterback Jameis Winston went 2-1-1 as the Giants' starter following Jaxson Dart's season-ending knee injury in Week 2, but the offense was simply too inconsistent with Winston under center.
The hope is that the offense can find more traction and consistency with McCarthy behind center, who shares traits and a skill set with Jaxson Dart. It's a very small sample size, but McCarthy did throw for nearly 250 yards and a touchdown in less than 12 minutes as the Giants' starter. Perhaps even more encouragingly, the Giants' run game also seemed to have a bit of life as well.
We'll see how much of an impact the change in quarterback can have on the Giants' offense and the team as a whole. Right now, Vegas isn't particularly optimistic and the Giants are 10.5-point underdogs on the road against the Texans ( per FanDuel ).
Earlier this week, prior to the quarterback change, we asked whether the Giants should start McCarthy or Jameis Wisnton. The response was pretty overwhelming in favor of McCarthy.
The change from Winston to McCarthy has something of the feel of starting a rookie quarterback, harkening back (a bit) to the changeover from Russell Wilson to Dart last year.
McCarthy is still a young quarterback at 23, and just 255 days older than 2026 1st overall pick Fernando Mendoza. However, he isn't exactly an inexperienced rookie despite his age and recent arrival in the Giants' building.
McCarthy does have 10 starts to his name, and has been on a Harbaugh coached team before (under Jim Harbaugh at Michigan). So he already comes in with an understanding of what the NFL game is like, has experience in sophisticated pro systems and against NFL defenses. But there's still an element of the unknown and the hope of untapped potential that often comes with starting a rookie quarterback. And combined with the added dimension that his athleticism brings to the offense, the change from Winston to McCarthy has the potential to be exciting as well as intriguing.
Perhaps because of that, fan confidence hasn't plummeted despite the Giants' mid-game implosion against the New Orleans Saints.
Fan confidence has dipped some after holding steady at 95 percent over the previous two weeks.
It hasn't dropped as much as after the Giants' loss to the Rams, nor as much as after losses in pervious years. Fans still seem pretty optimistic about the Giants in the long term, though the short term is becoming increasingly stressful as injuries pile up.
The Giants have been in "suvival mode" since Dart was lost for the season, and that fight for survival is only becoming more desperate as starters like Brian Burns and Tremaine Edmunds are lost. Likewise, other starters like Andrew Thomas, Jermaine Eluemunor, Jevon Holland, Tae Banks, Greg Newsome II, Theo Johnson, and Tyler Nubin have all been bitten by the injury bug.
And yet the Giants have shown impressive resilience and kept fighting. Hopefully McCarthy can spark the offense and upset the Texans as the Giants go into a their much-needed bye week.
Source: Sports
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