Giants are turning to J.J. McCarthy over Jameis Winston as their starting QB at Houston

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — John Harbaugh and the New York Giants are turning to J.J. McCarthy to start at quarterback for their game Sunday at Houston.

McCarthy got the nod over Jameis Winston, who started the previous four games since Jaxson Dart was sidelined for the foreseeable future because of a knee injury.

“It’s all things considered what gives us the best chance to be our best, give us the best chance to play the best offense we can,” Harbaugh said upon making the announcement following practice on Wednesday. “I thought Jameis has done a tremendous job: won us games, played well, but as we go forward here, this is going to be our direction. We think it gives us some good options on offense.”

The Giants (3-2-1) are in the middle of the pack on offense league-wide as they start a third player in seven games at football's most important position. They have their bye week after playing the Texans but are making the change to McCarthy now that he has fully grasped offensive coordinator Matt Nagy's system.

“He’s got the game plan down," Harbaugh said. “He can throw it. He’s picked up the offense really quickly. He’s an athletic guy, obviously, and he’s going to play some good football.”

Harbaugh said there was no debate over Winston starting against New Orleans last weekend. Winston threw two interceptions before getting replaced by McCarthy early in the fourth quarter with New York down 34-10.

“Last game, it wasn't what it was capable of being," said Winston, who has completed 57% of his passes for 957 yards, seven touchdowns and five interceptions this season. "Every single week as a football team, you’re defined off of the last time you stepped foot on the field, so I believe that, based off last game and my job is to lead the New York Football Giants to a win, that didn’t happen.”

Facing little resistance from the Saints given the score, McCarthy was 11 of 21 for 243 yards and led multiple scoring drives, getting to within seven before an incomplete pass on fourth down in the final minute.

“It was really fun to just be out there with this group and be able to execute the plays and Coach Nags trusting me to run his offense and just super thrilled to be back out there playing again,” McCarthy said. “There was some good things. There was some bad things.”

McCarthy is more mobile than Winston but has only been around just over three weeks since being acquired from Minnesota for a fifth-round draft pick in a late-September trade. Sunday's game is set to be the 23-year-old's 11th NFL start, after he made 10 for the Vikings last season, and he feels more prepared this time around.

“I believe just experience does wonders: being able to be in that same situation where you might have made a mistake the last time,” McCarthy said. “This time, you’re just going to react better and make a more well-rounded-response decision in that situation.”

His Giants debut is taking place in the same stadium in Houston where McCarthy won the national title with Michigan on Jan. 8, 2024. His coach at the time was Jim Harbaugh, John's younger brother.

McCarthy had 11 TD passes and 12 interceptions with Minnesota. He lost the starting job there in training camp to free agent addition Kyler Murray.

Sitting in first place in the NFC East, the Giants are banking on McCarthy making good on his growing confidence. He ran his first practice with the starters on Wednesday, and teammates are getting used to having someone new at the helm.

“He has to know how fast this guy is, how slow this guy is and how he likes to run his routes,” receiver Darnell Mooney said. "There’s some things we’ve still got to work on. If it works out well, it works out well. If it doesn’t, we still have to continue to build that chemistry.”

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