Harbaugh Leaves Door Open to Quarterback Change as Giants Weigh Winston, McCarthy

New York Giants head coach John Harbaugh, in his Monday video call with reporters, said the team is currently “working through” its options on whether to stick with Jameis Winston at quarterback or switch to J.J. McCarthy. McCarthy played an impressive 11-plus minutes in the fourth quarter of the team’s 34-27 Week 6 loss to the Saints and nearly erased a 24-point deficit.

“I would say absolutely like every other personnel decision we make, what gives us the best chance to win the football game at this given time, or what combination of players and schemes and things like that give us the best chance to, in this case, move the ball, score points, protect the football, et cetera,” Harbaugh said when asked what goes into the decision.

The fact that Harbaugh hasn’t come out and endorsed Winston as the team's starter moving forward suggests a switch to McCarthy is very much on the table.

McCarthy’s skill set is believed to be a closer fit for the playbook the Giants built for injured starter Jaxson Dart. He showed some of that on Sunday with his mobility, forcing the Saints’ run defense to account for him as a threat to run.

Winston has been good enough to get the Giants to a 2-1-1 record as a starter since taking over for Dart full time in Week 3. For Harbaugh, though, it sounds like what he sees in the current situation carries more weight than Winston’s body of work.

“You take all that into account, absolutely,” he said. “Jameis has done a great job in so many ways, and I just admire him and respect him for it. He’s helped us win games and did what he had to do to win games, and that’s something you value very much.”

No Best Time for a Switch

There is never a perfect moment for a personnel switch, regardless of the position. In the case of the Giants’ quarterback spot, Harbaugh admitted there is a balance between urgency and a player’s readiness.

“To me, that’s got to be maybe the main thing. You can never be ready enough. You just got to go out there and play. That’s one part of it,” he said.

“But the other part of it is you got to be able to be successful and protect yourself. If it’s an injury-type situation, you’ve got to be able to protect yourself. If it’s a performance-type situation, you’ve got to be able to perform at a high level, give yourself a chance to be successful, but also the team, right, to be successful.

“So, with a quarterback, what kind of a grasp does he have on all the things he’s going to need to do with just operating the offense, and understanding the terms and its cadences and the checks and all those kinds of things, and to what degree are you able to do all those things? Is it enough to run your offense? And that’s something that we have been grappling with.”

Given the struggles of the Giants’ offense and, in particular, a running game that doesn’t have a Derrick Henry-type back, the temptation to move to the more mobile McCarthy might be too hard to resist.

“Yeah, I’m sure that it’s not a revelation for the Texans or anybody else that if we go that way, that opens up some things that we wouldn’t be doing with Jameis, for sure,” Harbaugh said, noting that the offense is still “a work in progress.”

“There are some things that Jameis does that hit his strengths. So, J.J.’s definitely a better runner, scrambler, those kinds of things, although Jameis has made some scramble plays. So, both guys are capable of doing different things, but that’s definitely part of it.”

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