Giants' J.J. McCarthy 'had a blast' during first start with new team: 'This is just the beginning'

Robert Sanchez Sun, October 25, 2026 at 11:06 PM UTC · 4 min read About Our Ads Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It didn't take long before the Giants turned over their offense to quarterback J.J. McCarthy after acquiring him in a trade with the Minnesota Vikings following Jaxson Dart 's knee injury.

After seeing what McCarthy was capable of in last Sunday's fourth quarter against the New Orleans Saints, head coach John Harbaugh had no hesitation in giving the 23-year-old the starting nod this Sunday against the Houston Texans.

"It wasn't even a question to me," Harbaugh said. "It was just an obvious choice just for the circumstances that we were in, all things considered."

Harbaugh made sure to praise the job that Jameis Winston did in Dart's absence, but the Giants signed him to be their backup for a reason.

Still, Winston was instrumental in helping McCarthy get acclimated to his new team and he even played a part in Sunday's 27-21 overtime win with a rushing touchdown from the one-yard line so it's clear the veteran still has a role on the team.

"I just give so much credit to the coaches and Jameis and Jake [Haener] and Jaxson for helping me out the second I walked into the door," McCarthy said.

As for McCarthy, he also played great in the win, going 20-for-28 with 252 passing yards while putting New York in multiple positions to score, which it did via four rushing touchdowns by four different players ( Cam Skattebo , Tyrone Tracy , Devin Singletary , Winston). It's the first time since 1950 that the Giants had that happen in the same game.

"It was a lot of fun," McCarthy said. "It's always fun to be out there playing football, but with this group it makes it that much more fun, that's for sure… I just had a blast out there with these guys."

Even though he didn't directly contribute to any touchdowns in the win, McCarthy isn't one to care about his own stats and puts the team above himself at all costs, saying "the only stat I care about is going 1-0."

What was most impressive by McCarthy on the field, though, was his control of the offense under center despite joining the team just four weeks ago.

"There was no procedural penalties. We had no issues with the clock running down, we had no formation issues. All the checks were made really well," Harbaugh said. "I thought [McCarthy] did a great job and you know he's not a guy that's never played before so – I mean he's young, but he's played and he showed it.

"He made throws, I'm sure he didn't play perfect, but he played a heck of a football game and he deserves a lot of credit."

Including his time with the Vikings where he started 10 games after being the 10th overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, McCarthy is now 7-4 in his career and is grateful for another chance to prove his worth.

However, the youngster, more than anybody, also knows just how quickly it can all be taken away in a moment and is eager to continue working with the Giants as their surprising season marches on.

"This is just the beginning," he said. "At the end of the day we're a football team that wants to win games and a lot of games and we have aspirations for ourselves and we gotta hold ourselves accountable.

"This feels great, but we gotta go back to the film room, look at the tape and find ways to get better and reach the utmost potential of this group and I wouldn't wanna do it with any other team."

New York will have even more time than usual to look over film and prepare for its next game with a bye coming up next week.

In the meantime, it will soak up this impressive and hard-fought win (in which the Giants closed as 10.5-point underdogs) knowing that they'll return to the field for Week 9 against the Philadelphia Eagles in first place in the NFC East no matter what happens until then.

In fact, winning the division is now on the table and well within reach with the rest of the NFC East teams below .500.

"Getting a win going into the bye is an absolutely great feeling and we just gotta keep staying humble and hungry," McCarthy said.

---

Source: Sports