{"id":1046,"section":"sports","section_label":"Sports","url":"https://www.brokenews.co/sports/1046","headline":"Giants hand starting job to J.J. McCarthy, bench Jameis Winston","dek":"McCarthy earned the promotion after a fourth-quarter comeback bid against the Saints and will start Sunday against the Texans.","body":"The Giants are moving on from Jameis Winston as their starting quarterback, turning instead to J.J. McCarthy ahead of Sunday's game against the Texans. The switch comes after New York's loss to the Saints, when McCarthy entered in the fourth quarter with the team trailing 34-10 and helped engineer a comeback attempt, completing 11 of 21 passes for 243 yards, one touchdown and one interception.\n\nHead coach John Harbaugh confirmed the change on Wednesday, making McCarthy the Giants' starter for their October 25 road matchup against Houston. McCarthy, acquired from the Vikings last month for a 2027 fifth-round pick, had been inactive before the quarterback change thrust him back into a lead role.\n\nMcCarthy said he feels more prepared for the job now than when he first took over as the Vikings' starter last season, crediting the experience of 10 starts in Minnesota despite injuries along the way. He described the opportunity with the Giants as a chance to prove himself, noting he has gained a better feel for the nature of NFL football since his rookie season.\n\nWinston moves to the backup role as the Giants prepare to open this new chapter at quarterback.","published_at":"2026-10-23T21:33:45.991871+00:00","source_count":5,"written_from":[{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"J.J. McCarthy Explains How Jaxson Dart Is Helping Him Navigate Giants Opportunity","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/j-j-mccarthy-explains-jaxson-202726719.html"},{"outlet":"The Athletic","publisher":"The Athletic","title":"Ahead of J.J. McCarthy Giants' starting QB debut, a dose of context for fantasy managers","url":"https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7715369/2026/10/23/fantasy-football-jj-mccarthy-giants-starting-qb-nabers-likely/"},{"outlet":"Fox Sports","publisher":"Fox Sports","title":"NFL Catchup: Giants To Start J.J. McCarthy; Josh Jacobs Back At Packers Practice","url":"https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nfl/nfl-catchup-giants-go-j-j-mccarthy-josh-jacobs-back-practice"},{"outlet":"Pro Football Talk","publisher":"NBC Sports","title":"J.J. McCarthy on feeling more ready to start: Experience does wonders","url":"https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/j-j-mccarthy-on-feeling-more-ready-to-start-experience-does-wonders"},{"outlet":"ESPN","publisher":"ESPN","title":"Giants to start McCarthy over Winston at QB against Texans","url":"https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/50238746/giants-start-jj-mccarthy-qb-week"}],"more_coverage":[{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Giants Mailbag: How long is J.J. McCarthy's leash?","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/giants-mailbag-long-j-j-131000393.html"},{"outlet":"The Athletic","publisher":"The Athletic","title":"Giants name J.J. McCarthy starting QB, bench Jameis Winston","url":"https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7704945/2026/10/21/new-york-giants-j-j-mccarthy-jameis-winston/"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Analyzing J.J. McCarthy's initial Giants performance and possible impact against Texans","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/analyzing-j-j-mccarthys-initial-170000436.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Giants committed to helping quarterback J.J. McCarthy 'do what he does best' in Week 7 start","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/giants-committed-helping-quarterback-j-211023917.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Giants’ J.J. McCarthy drops game-changing Jaxson Dart revelation as he replaces Jameis Winston","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/giants-j-j-mccarthy-drops-211944676.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"New York Giants expand playbook to 90 percent for J.J. McCarthy","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/york-giants-expand-playbook-90-220117076.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Giants HC John Harbaugh’s J.J. McCarthy plan says it all about Jameis Winston’s shortcomings","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/giants-hc-john-harbaugh-j-221351914.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Former Vikings QB J.J. McCarthy Gets Lamar Jackson Comparison Amid Giants Shakeup","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/former-vikings-qb-j-j-235645242.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Former NFL MVP sends warning to Giants over J.J. McCarthy starting decision","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/former-nfl-mvp-sends-warning-060431842.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Giants’ Jameis Winston gives honest thoughts on losing starting job","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/giants-jameis-winston-gives-honest-061026455.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"J.J. McCarthy seemingly throws shot at Vikings coaching staff ahead of first Giants start","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/j-j-mccarthy-seemingly-throws-061240587.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Malik Nabers sends clear message on Giants’ decision to start J.J. McCarthy","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/malik-nabers-sends-clear-message-092405327.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Report: Giants set to have J.J. McCarthy start for them in Week 7","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/report-giants-set-j-j-095531529.html"},{"outlet":"The Athletic","publisher":"The Athletic","title":"Why the Giants are handing J.J. McCarthy the keys to their offense","url":"https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7715428/2026/10/23/giants-jj-mccarthy-quarterback-start-texans/"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Giants news: DC Dennard Wilson calls out defense, Giants double-digit underdogs, more","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/giants-news-dc-dennard-wilson-100000435.html"}],"image":{"url":"https://nbcsports.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/ab5c6a4/2147483647/strip/false/crop/1920x1080+0+0/resize/1920x1080!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fhdliveextra-a.akamaihd.net%2FHD%2Fimage_sports%2FNBCU_Sports_Group_-_nbcsports%2F242%2F63%2Fnbc_pft_jameiswinston_261022.jpg","credit":"Pro Football Talk","width":1920},"embed":null,"license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/","attribution":"Analysis data is licensed CC BY 4.0. Credit brokenews and link to the story page you took it from. Source headlines, story titles taken from a source headline, and quoted passages remain the property of their publishers and are quoted for comparison, not licensed onward.","terms":"https://www.brokenews.co/about#reuse"}