The New York Giants made what felt like the inevitable decision on Wednesday to bench Jameis Winston in favor of J.J. McCarthy, a quarterback choice that everyone knew was on the horizon.
Despite Winston guiding the Giants to a 2-1-1 record in his four starts, the veteran quarterback’s volatile play made him an easy candidate to consider benching.
In five appearances for Big Blue this season, the former No. 1 overall pick completed 57% of his passes and threw for 957 yards with seven touchdowns and five interceptions.
Not great, sure, but is it guaranteed to be worse than what McCarthy has to offer the Giants? That remains to be seen.
But some feel that Harbaugh may have been too rash in his decision to bench Winston, including a particularly loud WFAN radio host.
Craig Carton Rips John Harbaugh for Starting J.J. McCarthy
WFAN radio host Craig Carton, who is notorious for his lambastic takes, absolutely blasted Harbaugh and the New York Giants for turning to McCarthy.
He went as far as to say the Giants’ season was over.
“J.J. McCarthy era has begun for the Giants? Season over. What a ridiculously stupid decision by your hero, Johnny Harbaugh… a season in which you guys have a chance to win the division, ” Carton yelled into his microphone.
“Let’s take a kid who’s barely played football, only played essentially, a half of football this particular season, right? And put him up against a defense that’s arguably on paper the best defense in football. Oh, that couldn’t possibly go south on us. Your season ended today. My lord.”
Now, this is clearly a knee-jerk reaction from Carton. Despite claiming the Giants’ season is over with McCarthy at the helm, that couldn’t be further from the truth.
No one can actually guarantee the former Minnesota Vikings first-round draft pick is going to be better than Winston. His resume is spotty at best, with only 10 starts under his belt as a starting quarterback.
In those starts, McCarthy completed 57.6% of his passes, threw for 1,632 passing yards, and tossed 12 touchdowns to go along with 11 interceptions, but things could be entirely different in New York.
People Assume the Worst About J.J. McCarthy
Let’s set aside for the moment that McCarthy threw for 243 yards off the bench in the fourth quarter during the New York Giants’ loss to the New Orleans Saints this past Sunday.
Just because the Vikings head coach, Kevin O’Connell, didn’t want him anymore, does that automatically make McCarthy a bad quarterback? Legendary New York sports figure Gary Myers raised a good point about how silly some of the narratives have gotten around the former Michigan quarterback.
“Once Vikings gave up on JJ McCarthy, the narrative was if Kevin O’Connell didn’t want him, he was never going to be any good. When did KOC become Bill Walsh? He got credit for Sam Darnold, but it was the year with Kyle Shanahan in SF behind Brock Purdy that turned around Sam’s career,” Myers wrote in a post on X.
“KOC is 5-0 in Minnesota this season because of Brian Flores’s defense, not because of Kyler Murray and journeyman Carson Wentz. Remember, Giants OC Matt Nagy won 11 games with Mitchell Trubisky when he was Bears HC.”
Giants fans will be pinning their hopes on Nagy finding a way to draw out the best in McCarthy. If he can maintain that level of play he had in the fourth quarter against New Orleans, the Giants should be just fine.
Giants’ John Harbaugh Ripped for J.J. McCarthy Decision