The loss was ugly, but the New York Giants appear to have found their starting quarterback for the remainder of the 2026 season.
JJ McCarthy nearly pulled off a wild 24-point fourth-quarter comeback after he was subbed in for the benched Jameis Winston, passing for 243 yards, directing two touchdown drives, and helping New York reel off 17 unanswered points to make it a one-score game with just over two minutes remaining.
Driving the Giants (3-2-1) down to the Saints’ 14-yard line, McCarthy’s 4th-&-1 hoper for Isaiah Likely in the back of the end zone fell incomplete, allowing the New Orleans Saints to escape MetLife Stadium with a 34-27 victory on Sunday afternoon.
After the Saints scored 34 unanswered points and Winston got the hook, McCarthy led a seven-play, 52-yard scoring drive that ended with Tyrone Tracy’s second touchdown of the day, a five-yard rush with seven minutes left.
The Giants cut it to 10 with 5:06 left when, after a circus 49-yard catch by Charlie Jones, McCarthy hit Likely for a 24-yard score. The ensuing two-point conversion to make it a one-possession game, though, failed.
A 46-yard completion to Nabers set up a Dominic Zvada field goal to make it a seven-point game with 2:04 left. The Giants’ defense stopped New Orleans, but burned all their timeouts before getting the ball back at their own 29-yard line with 57 seconds to go.
McCarthy scrambled for 28 yards to get the Giants across midfield, then hit Likely for 20, which took 15 seconds off the clock. With 25 seconds left and on 2nd-&-10, he hit Malik Nabers for nine yards to get into the red zone, but also set up the game-deciding incompletion.
Had the Giants not been so sloppy, though, Week 6 could have played out so much differently.
Winston had his worst start yet, completing 14 of 26 passes for 152 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions, and Jones coughed up the football late in the first half to send the Saints on their way.
Leading 10-0, the Saints got their first points of the day on a field goal with 1:18 left in the first half. Jones fumbled the ensuing kickoff, which was recovered by the visitors — a play that sucked the life out of MetLife Stadium and its inhabitants.
With a second left before the break, Tyler Shough hit tight end Bryce Lance for a two-yard score to tie the game at halftime, and cap off a 10-0 run in just 77 seconds.
Starting the second half with the ball, the Saints barreled 79 yards in five plays to take the lead, capped off by a vintage 31-yard catch-and-run by running back Alvin Kamara. With it, the veteran rusher became just the sixth player in NFL history with 5,000 rushing yards and 5,000 receiving yards.
Following a Giants three-and-out that featured a holding penalty and two false starts on consecutive plays, the Saints made it a 14-point game with a Shough keeper from a yard out with 5:43 left in the third.
Winston was picked off by Martin Emerson Jr., though Nabers could have done better on his out route to the left sideline, which led to a Dylan Carlson 51-yard field goal with 1:12 to go.
When Winston was sacked on a 3rd-&-6 to confirm another three-and-out at the end of the third quarter, fans began to hit the exits. Winston was picked off one more time, and three-and-a-half minutes into the fourth, the Saints made it a laugher at 34-10 when Shough hit Chris Olave for an 18-yard score.
McCarthy’s heroics now leave Harbaugh with a decision on who he’ll have leading his team under center next Sunday in Houston against the Texans. The Michigan product, at only 23, provides a similar skill set to that of the injured Jaxson Dart, and looked far more comfortable slinging the football.
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