John Harbaugh has already given the Giants something they had been missing for far too long: a team that’s worth watching again.
Five games into the season, they are still in first place in the NFC East without Jaxson Dart, the quarterback who was supposed to be their starter. That alone would have sounded impossible not long ago.
But the bigger shift is the way they look doing it. These Giants play with force, with edge, and with a kind of stubborn life that had been missing through one losing season after another.
That change showed up again in the last three Sundays against the Titans, Cardinals and Commanders, a stretch against opponents whose combined record is 2-12-1. Cam Ward handed the Giants a last-second win at MetLife, Jacoby Brissett did the same the next week, and then the whole picture got even clearer in overtime against Washington.
The Commanders game had all the drama the Giants have been lacking in recent years. Jayden Daniels didn’t throw a touchdown pass.
Jameis Winston did, three of them, with no interceptions, 326 passing yards and a rally from two touchdowns down in the fourth quarter in the rain and on the road. Winston was better than Daniels - and that wasn’t really a conversation.
The question hanging over the whole thing was simpler: what could Dart have done better than that?
Winston was also not the one who gave the game away. That came when Cam Skattebo fought for an extra yard he didn’t need, right after he had put the Giants in position to kick a field goal and win it in overtime.
Afterward, Winston said, “My desire is to be a great starting quarterback in the NFL. I dreamed of this, and this is who I am, and I know that I’m going to continue to get better and find ways to help this team win football games.”
That line fit the day. So does the way the Giants have played since Dart got hurt against the Rams.
It has become the Giants Experience again, in all its messiness and energy. Malik Nabers looks like the player he was before tearing up his own knee last season, and the Giants are getting the kind of tough yards from Skattebo on the ground that they had gone too long without.
The record tells one story - 2-0-1 against teams that have only two combined wins - but it doesn’t tell the whole one. Giants fans know this team almost certainly would have found a way to lose all three of those games in the recent past.
Instead, they have found a way to fight. Against the Titans, Jevon Holland saved them with an interception in the end zone when Tennessee had first-and-goal in the final minute. Against the Cardinals, Abdul Carter spent four straight plays in the backfield late, and then Deonte Banks finished the job with an interception that turned into a 98-yard walk-off return.
Then came Sunday, when the Giants got down 27-13 and kept swinging anyway. The fumbles, the missed field goals, all the usual ways things have gone wrong for them in the past - none of it stopped them from pushing back until the other team blinked.
Now they get a Saints team that is 1-4 but, as the record says, still better than the last three opponents they have beaten. A win Sunday would move the Giants to 4-1-1 and keep them alone in first place.
The door in the division has already opened. The Eagles gave one away to the Jaguars in London. The Cowboys did it in Rio against the Ravens and then failed to beat a winless Buccaneers team at home.
This is not the season anybody drew up for the NFC East. But that’s the point: seasons become what they become. And right now, with John Harbaugh on the sideline, the Giants are a team that looks alive again.
“You got to keep rolling through,” John Harbaugh said the other day.
So far, they have.
In Other News...
Giants Suddenly Have A Starting Safety Problem Around Tyler Nubin
Tyler Nubins spot in the Giants secondary has gone from stable to unsettled in a hurry. The third-year safety was hurt in Week 5 with a neck injury and is day-to-day, but the concern goes beyond his health because his grip on a starting job had already started to loosen before the injury.
Nubin has been losing snaps to Jason Pinnock and ArDarius Washington, leaving the Giants with a real decision to make alongside Jevon Holland. Pinnock is nearing a return from concussion protocol, which adds another layer to a rotation that has already shifted once this season and could shift again as the defense tries to settle on its best pairing at safety. [Read more 🡒]
Giants Offense May Have Found A New Identity With Winston
The Giants spent much of a recent game looking like a different offense once Jameis Winston started throwing more often, with Malik Nabers and Isaiah Likely becoming central pieces of the attack. The shift gave New York a more aggressive feel and hinted at a group that may be more comfortable when the game is in Winstons hands and the ball is moving through the air instead of being managed conservatively.
Isaiah Likelys role has been especially notable, because his work as a pass catcher has already stood out among NFL tight ends and given the Giants another reliable option in key spots. Even the late-game decision to play for overtime rather than chase a two-point conversion fit into the broader conversation around how this offense wants to operate, and whether the Giants are settling into a new identity or just revealing one for the first time. [Read more 🡒]
Giants Face A Tough Trade Deadline Call While Leading The NFC East
The Giants have spent the first part of the 2026 season doing the one thing few outside the building expected them to do this early: sit at 3-1-1 and lead the NFC East while managing a string of key injuries. That sort of start usually pushes a team toward addition mode at the trade deadline, but it can also force hard internal decisions about which veterans and depth pieces still fit the long-term picture, especially with Nov. 10 approaching.
Theo Johnson and John Michael Schmitz are among the names being discussed as possible trade candidates if the Giants decide to balance present success against future roster needs. Johnsons role has thinned enough to make him part of the conversation, while Schmitz has seen his standing change after opening the year as the center, and both situations speak to how complicated this deadline could be for a team trying to stay in first place without losing sight of what comes next. [Read more 🡒]