John Harbaugh didn’t dance around the moment after the Giants’ 27-21 overtime win in Houston. With the bye week here, he went straight to the heart of what comes next.
“The two most important games of the season,” Harbaugh said.
He meant the stretch that opens when the Giants come back from the break: a Nov. 8 trip to Philadelphia and then a Thursday Night Football meeting with Washington on Nov. 12.
Two division games in five days. Two chances to shape the NFC East race while the Giants sit on top of it at 4-2-1.
For a brief window Monday morning, the Giants were even +110 favorites to win the division, according to ESPN Research, the first time in 10 years they had held that status at any point in a season. But that didn’t last long. After the Cowboys beat the Eagles 38-21 on Monday night, Dallas moved back in front of New York in the odds race, with the Cowboys at +115 and the Giants at +125.
That’s how tight this thing is. And that’s why Harbaugh called the win over Houston “pivotal” and a “high pressure game” for his team.
“The difference between 2.5-games over .500 is a big deal as opposed to being .500,” Harbaugh said of sitting at 4-2-1 instead of 3-3-1 at the bye. “It’s a pivotal pendulum type of moment to get on the plus side, going into two huge games where you have a chance to open that up if you play the kind of football we’re capable of playing.”
Inside the locker room, the message landed. Fullback Pat Ricard said the victory did more than improve the record - it fed belief.
“I think there’s so many guys that are hungry to win here,” Ricard told the Daily News. “They just want to win, and they want to prove themselves, and they want to be Pro Bowlers.
They want to be All-Pros. They want to be paid.
And they want to win. And I feel like Harbaugh challenges everybody here and keeps you accountable so that you are focused and you’re detailed, and you put the team above yourself.
And we’re all working together.”
He said the team’s season has already shown that kind of edge.
“I feel like you’ve seen that all year: How resilient we’ve been, and just sticking in every game, and just keep believing, and keep trying to win,” he added. “And I feel like we’ve done that.”
The path ahead is real, but it’s not simple. Philadelphia has been a problem for the Giants for a long time, with a 4-16 record in the last 20 meetings, a 2-8 mark in the last 10 and a 1-3 record in the last four.
Still, the Eagles are reeling at 2-5, have lost five straight and are without quarterback Jalen Hurts. The Cowboys also exposed them on Monday.
That gives New York a clear shot.
Washington is another story, and the recent history there is even rougher. The Giants are 0-4-1 in their last five games against the Commanders and 3-5-2 in the last 10.
They’ve never beaten Jayden Daniels. They also still have the sting of that 27-27 tie in Maryland a few weeks ago.
The quarterback change to J.J. McCarthy has also altered the look of the Giants’ offense, and maybe the feel of the whole team as it heads into this stretch.
When Harbaugh said, “we’re gonna be in this thing until the end now” after the Texans game, he was looking at the bigger picture in the division. He could see the opportunities coming later too - a Week 17 trip to Dallas and a Week 18 finale against the Eagles that could wind up among the biggest games this franchise has played in years.
But none of that matters if the Giants don’t handle business now. That’s the point of the bye-week reset. That’s the point of the next two games.
“It’s a massive energy shot in the arm,” Harbaugh said of the win before the break. “Now you’ve got to make something of it. It doesn’t mean anything if you don’t build on it, right?”
The Giants also made a roster move before the break, placing running back Tyrone Tracy Jr. on injured reserve with the hamstring injury he suffered Sunday. That rules him out for at least the next four games. Tracy had scored a touchdown in three straight games, and his loss hits a run-heavy offense.
To help cover the backfield, the Giants signed Greg Desrosiers off the Los Angeles Chargers’ practice squad. After the bye, the available backs will be Cam Skattebo, Devin Singletary, practice squad back Phil Mafah and Desrosiers.
The team also added veteran defensive lineman Dean Lowry to the practice squad and released wide receiver Jason Brownlee.
In Other News...
Giants Win Could Spark Bigger Fight Over Cam Skattebo Call
The Giants win over the Texans came with a play that is likely to linger well after the final whistle. Running back Cam Skattebo was penalized on a collision that drew an officiating flag, and the call quickly became part of the postgame conversation as New York left with the victory but not much satisfaction over how the moment was handled.
Head coach John Harbaugh did not hide his frustration with the leagues officiating or the way helmet-contact rules are being interpreted. With the Giants already navigating the aftermath of the penalty, the larger issue now is whether the team will push for more clarity from the NFL on what technique it actually wants coached, a question that could carry beyond one disputed snap. [Read more 🡒]
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McCarthy was sacked three times, yet the rush never seemed to rattle his overall command of the game. Several of his key throws were the kind that make a coaching staff start rethinking what is on the table moving forward, especially after a performance that helped the Giants move the ball at a much higher level than usual. The question now is less about whether he belongs in the discussion and more about how far this version of the offense can go if he keeps building on it. [Read more 🡒]
Giants Have A Familiar Deadline Option To Fix A Thin Rotation
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Tomlinson is the type of target that makes sense for a team trying to thread the needle. A low-cost deal would let the Giants bolster a position group that could use more depth, and his recent play suggests he still has something to offer inside. The question now is whether New York decides to lean into that kind of pragmatic help, or whether it prefers to hold its cards and see how far the current group can carry the defense. [Read more 🡒]