J.J. McCarthy has given the Giants a reason to believe, but the rest of the roster still has plenty of work to do.
Through five quarters in a New York uniform, McCarthy has looked comfortable enough to keep the conversation moving in a hopeful direction. The former top-10 pick has handled the moment well, and he heads into Sunday with the kind of momentum that makes people start thinking bigger. Still, the Giants know he can’t carry this thing by himself.
That reality is easy to see in the backfield. The running back room is in rough shape, and it comes at a time when New York is trying to build toward a playoff push.
Cam Skattebo is dealing with a hamstring injury and was out of practice Wednesday afternoon, leaving him day-to-day. That’s a tough break for the 24-year-old human-sized fire hydrant, especially after he turned in the best game of his career against the Houston Texans in Week 7.
The depth behind him is thin. Najee Harris has been cut, Tyrone Tracy Jr. is on IR, and that leaves Devin Singletary and Greg Desrosiers Jr. as the only healthy backs on the active roster.
Singletary was a healthy scratch for three straight games before the Texans matchup, and Desrosiers has yet to play a regular-season NFL snap. For a team that was supposed to lean on a physical rushing attack, that’s not exactly the setup anyone had in mind.
The timing is especially awkward because the ground game finally showed signs of life against Houston. New York ran for 188 yards after looking stuck for much of the previous five games. Now the Giants are waiting to see whether Skattebo can get back quickly or whether a trade has to do the heavy lifting before Sunday’s kickoff.
That’s why the trade deadline chatter has picked up. With Nov. 10 getting closer, plenty of names have been thrown around in connection with New York, including Vita Vea, Ashton Jeanty, Derrick Henry, Jeffery Simmons, and Jonathan Taylor.
Simmons is already gone after the Chicago Bears sent two first-round picks and a fourth to Tennessee for the All-Pro defensive tackle. Harbs reportedly pushed hard to bring him to New York, and the Giants have since been linked to Vea as another possible upgrade on the interior defensive line.
Taylor is the name that jumps out most because of the state of the backfield, but the Colts reportedly want a Christian McCaffrey-type return. That’s a steep ask for a team that has just five picks in the 2027 Draft.
The Giants also enter Week 9 with a chance to do something they haven’t done in a long time. They travel to face the Eagles, who are stumbling in on a six-game losing streak and have turned to backup quarterback Joe Milton III in an effort to stop the slide and quiet the Nick Sirianni hot-seat chatter.
Philadelphia has been a nightmare stop for New York for years. The Giants haven’t won in Philadelphia since 2013, a stretch of 13 straight losses in the City of Brotherly Love. The last time they came away with a win there, Peyton Hillis was the leading rusher, Chip Kelly was coaching the Eagles, and Josh Brown kicked five field goals in a 15-7 Giants victory.
Now New York is favored to win in Philadelphia for the first time since 2009. Head coach John Harbaugh isn’t buying into the streak one way or the other, saying, "We don’t care; we don’t care about that." Giants fans probably care plenty, and they’d love to see that run finally end.
McCarthy, meanwhile, has his own streak to protect. He hasn’t lost a game as a starting quarterback since November 23 of last year and is riding a five-game winning streak into Philly.
Four of those wins came with Minnesota to close out 2025, including a 16-13 Week 16 win over the Giants, and the other came in the overtime win over the Texans in Week 7. It’s a strong run for a quarterback the Vikings gave up on, even if the sample size in New York is still tiny.
He has attempted just 49 passes over 70 minutes as a Giant, so there’s still plenty left to learn. But he has protected the ball and avoided the kind of mistakes that can flip a game in a hurry. Sunday’s matchup with Vic Fangio’s defense should tell everyone a little more about how far he’s really come.
There’s also a bit of history attached to November 5. On this date in 2006, the Giants beat the Texans 14-10 at Giants Stadium in a chilly Week 9 game.
Eli Manning threw for 179 yards, Tiki Barber ran for 115, and New York had to rally from a 10-7 deficit entering the fourth quarter. Manning found Jeremy Shockey for a three-yard touchdown to put the Giants ahead for good, and a late Houston fumble helped close it out.
That win moved New York to 6-2 before the season eventually finished 8-8.
In Other News...
Isaiah Likely Has A Big Eagles Opportunity While Giants Weigh A Change
Isaiah Likelys first outing with J.J. McCarthy under center for the Giants was a quiet one, as he caught two of four targets for 12 yards and didnt get into the end zone. Still, the setup for the next game looks more favorable. New York is favored against the Eagles, and Philadelphias defense has had trouble with slot receivers, which could give Likely a cleaner path to a bigger role if the passing game finds a rhythm.
The wrinkle is that the Giants are also looking at ways to reshape the offense, and that could affect how much they lean on Likely going forward. If the roster changes they are considering come together, the attack could look different in a hurry, leaving his usage in a less certain place even as this matchup offers a chance to build on a slow start. [Read more 🡒]
Giants Could Still Add The One Upgrade This 6-2 Start Demands
The Giants 6-2 start has them sitting atop the NFC East, and it has also put them squarely in the middle of trade-season chatter. ESPNs Jeremy Fowler and Dan Graziano have both connected New York to possible upgrades, with the front office believed to be at least exploring help at defensive tackle and running back as the November 10 deadline approaches.
One name that has surfaced in that conversation is Jonathan Taylor, a reminder that the Giants are not just protecting a good record but trying to see how far it can carry them. They have already checked on other targets and come away empty in some cases, which suggests the search is real, even if the exact move is still unclear. [Read more 🡒]
Theo Johnson Has A Giants Problem He Cant Ignore
The Giants have a tight end setup that already feels a little unusual, with Isaiah Likely being used mostly as a slot receiver while Theo Johnson handles the more traditional in-line role. For now, Johnson remains the player most tied to that job, but his uneven production and blocking issues have left the team with a question it cannot really ignore as it looks ahead.
Ryan Wilson of CBS Sports recently pointed to LSU tight end Trey'Dez Green as a possible future answer if Johnson does not take a clear step forward. Green brings the kind of size, speed and contested-catch ability that can make a passing game more dangerous, though he would still need to sharpen his run-blocking to fit what the Giants want from the position. [Read more 🡒]