McCarthy helped New York score 17 unanswered points before ultimately coming up just short
It could be the beginning of a new era in New York, as the Giants benched quarterback Jameis Winston for J.J. McCarthy in the fourth quarter of their eventual 34-27 loss to the New Orleans Saints. While McCarthy threw an interception on his third passing attempt, he rebounded to spark the Giants and made his case to be John Harbaugh’s new starter.
In all, McCarthy completed 11 of 21 passes for 243 yards, one touchdown and one interception in his first extensive action with his new team. He also led the Giants in rushing with 26 yards. Following his interception, McCarthy led a six-play, 52-yard drive that was capped by a Tyrone Tracy Jr. touchdown and a successful Isaiah Likely two-point conversion to trim the deficit to 16 points. After a Saints three-and-out, McCarthy took the Giants offense 73 yards down the field on just three plays, and hit Likely for a 24-yard touchdown to make it a 10-point game.
McCarthy was given the opportunity to lead a game-tying or game-winning drive with 57 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter with zero timeouts. On first down, he scrambled up the middle for 28 yards to get the Giants into enemy territory, and then hit Likely for 20 yards to get New York to the Saints’ 23-yard line.
The Giants eventually faced a fourth-and-1 14 yards from the end zone with 12 seconds remaining, and McCarthy could not connect with Likely in the end zone. The Giants wanted a flag on this play, but the officials held onto their yellow handkerchiefs.
This was a performance good enough for McCarthy to unseat Winston permanently. Last month, the Giants traded a fifth-round pick to the Minnesota Vikings for McCarthy. The former No. 10 overall pick went 6-4 as the starter for the Vikings in 2025, completing 57.6% of his passes for 1,632 yards, 11 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. He became the only first-round pick at quarterback since 1970 to finish last in completion percentage and TD-INT ratio in their debut season.
Harbaugh said after the game he can’t answer who his starting quarterback will be moving forward, and that those are not issues decided 10 minutes after a game.
It’s called the “Jameis Winston experience” for a reason. Last week in the tie vs. the Washington Commanders, he completed 33 of 54 passes for 326 yards and three touchdowns. Winston actually became the first Giants quarterback to throw three touchdowns in back-to-back games since Eli Manning in 2016. However, his performance on Sunday opened the door for Harbaugh to consider his other quarterback. Winston completed 14 of 26 passes for 152 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions before his benching.
