J.J. McCarthy Completes 6 of 6 Deep Passes vs. Saints; Giants Running Backs Gain 15 Yards Through 3 Quarters

J.J. McCarthy threw six passes the NFL play-by-play charts as deep in the Giants' 34-27 loss to the New Orleans Saints on Sunday and completed all six, for 183 of his 243 yards. Not counting four spikes, he went 5 of 11 for 60 yards with an interception on his other throws. Every snap he took after replacing Jameis Winston came with the Saints ahead by at least 7 points.

The NFL gamebook, the Pro Football Reference snap counts and the nflverse play-by-play also show that a late field goal ended 9 seconds after the 2:13 mark coach John Harbaugh said the Giants wanted, and that no running back carry gained positive expected points until the fourth quarter. A play gains positive expected points when it raises the nflverse model's estimate of how many points the drive will produce.

The quarterback change, drive by drive

Winston had 10 drives, counting a kneel-down at the end of the first half. They produced 10 points: a 12-play, 93-yard touchdown drive in the first quarter, a field goal, five punts and two interceptions. McCarthy had five drives. They produced 17 points: two touchdowns, a field goal, an interception and a turnover on downs at the Saints 14.

The Giants' first-half drives under Winston ran 31 plays at minus-0.05 EPA per play, slightly below league average. Winston's four second-half drives ran 13 plays at minus-0.99 per play: a punt, an interception, a punt and an interception. He averaged 6.8 air yards per attempt, the distance his passes traveled past the line of scrimmage, and threw deep four times in 26 attempts.

The Giants' win probability, by the nflverse model, was 0.2% when McCarthy's first drive began and never higher than 6% at the start of any of his drives.

In 2025, offenses trailing by 7 or more in the fourth quarter with a win probability under 10% averaged minus-0.05 EPA per play over about 2,500 plays. McCarthy's drives averaged plus-0.46. He averaged 14.8 air yards per attempt. The sample is 23 plays in one quarter.

Winston's two interceptions

The first came with 4:23 left in the third quarter and the Giants down 24-10. On first-and-10 at the Saints 37, on a no-huddle snap, Winston threw short left for Malik Nabers. Martin Emerson Jr. caught it at the Saints 26, 11 yards downfield, and returned it 12 yards. Daniel Carlson kicked a 51-yard field goal to end the next drive.

Winston said in his postgame news conference that the Giants had gone into their fast tempo and that he threw the ball "outside where I perceived that only our guy could get it," and that the defensive back made a play on it.

The second came on second-and-3 at the Giants 25 with 12:28 left in the fourth quarter, down 27-10, also out of no-huddle. Winston threw deep middle for Isaiah Likely, 17 yards downfield. Julian Blackmon intercepted at the Giants 42 and returned it to the 21. Chris Olave scored on an 18-yard pass two plays later, and Winston did not take another snap.

A third Winston interception, on a deep ball for Darnell Mooney early in the third quarter, was wiped out by offsetting penalties.

The running backs

All four running backs — Cam Skattebo, Devin Singletary, Tyrone Tracy Jr. and Najee Harris — were active. Their snap counts:

Skattebo had no carries and no targets. The four backs ran 14 times for 34 yards. Through three quarters they had 10 carries for 15 yards, and none gained positive expected points. The three that did came in the fourth quarter: Singletary's 9-yard run and two Tracy runs of 5 yards, the second a touchdown. In Weeks 1-5, 32% of the running backs' carries gained positive expected points. The team finished with 84 rushing yards on 20 carries, including McCarthy's 28-yard scramble and Mooney's 20-yard run.

Harbaugh, asked about the running game postgame, said, "It was not very good, not very good."

Harbaugh said it was not by design that Skattebo did not carry the ball, and he said splitting the snaps among the four backs was the plan. He said all the backs took equal reps in the first half, that the Giants went to a no-huddle attack with their third-down backs after the first series of the second half, and that "when he was in there, we didn't call any runs."

Play video: The Giants' video of postgame interviews with coach John Harbaugh, Isaiah Likely, Malik Nabers, Tyrone Tracy Jr. and Jameis Winston after Sunday's 34-27 loss to the Saints. Harbaugh discusses the running backs and Cam Skattebo's snaps.

Skattebo lost a fumble at the Washington 24 with 2:00 left in overtime in Week 5, the Giants' last possession of the 27-27 tie. It was his only lost fumble of the season. At his Oct. 16 news conference, asked whether there is a point where fumbles lead to changes at running back, Harbaugh said, "Of course. Yes. There is a point." Asked whether he had reached it, he said, "We'll see. We'll find out." Asked postgame Sunday whether the usage was a byproduct of the fumbling, Harbaugh declined to add to his earlier answer. He said the Giants did not bench Skattebo.

The kickoff fumble and the last two minutes

The kickoff fumble. The Giants led 10-0 until Carlson's 58-yard field goal with 1:18 left in the first half made it 10-3. On the kickoff, the Saints' Isaiah Stalbird forced a fumble by Charlie Jones, and Oscar Delp recovered for New Orleans at the Giants 28. Tyler Shough scrambled 25 yards to the 3, and after the Giants used their last two timeouts, Shough threw a 2-yard touchdown pass to Bryce Lance on fourth-and-2. The extra point tied it 10-10 with 1 second left. The Giants' win probability was 76% before the kickoff and 51% after the extra point. Asked about the fumble, Harbaugh said, "That was 17 points. That started it." The Saints scored 17 points from Carlson's field goal through their first drive of the second half, and 34 straight in all.

The last two minutes. On the drive before the final one, McCarthy spiked the ball on third-and-6 at the Saints 23 with 2:09 left, and Dominic Zvada kicked a 41-yard field goal to make it 34-27 with 2:04 left. Harbaugh said the Giants wanted the kick done by 2:13. "We want that two-minute warning to count for us," he said. The two-minute warning came after the kickoff and before the Saints' first snap. Asked why the Giants spiked on third down rather than run a play, Harbaugh said a quick-snap play was hard to organize with a tired offense and risked running time off the clock.

Zvada kicked off deep instead of onside. The Giants had tried two onside kicks earlier in the quarter, and the Saints recovered both. Harbaugh said the Giants wanted a touchback and that kicking out of bounds would have cost 5 yards. Lance returned it 30 yards to the Saints 25. The Giants used their last two timeouts on the Saints' first two runs, and New Orleans punted with 1:06 left. An illegal-block penalty on Zaire Barnes put the Giants at their 29 with 57 seconds left and no timeouts.

McCarthy ran 28 yards, spiked the ball, hit Likely for 20, spiked the ball and hit Nabers for 9 to the Saints 14. With 13 seconds left on third-and-1, he spiked it again. The nflverse model put the Giants' win probability at 16% before that spike and 10% after it. His fourth-down pass to Likely fell incomplete. Harbaugh's postgame answer on spiking concerned the 2:09 spike, not the one on third-and-1.

Defensive backs and tackles

Greg Newsome II played 41 of 72 defensive snaps before the team ruled him out in the third quarter with a concussion. Nic Jones, who had five defensive snaps in the first five games, played 31. With cornerback Colton Hood and safety Tyler Nubin inactive, Jason Pinnock played 45 snaps in his return from a concussion and Ar'Darius Washington played 29. Deonte Banks and Jevon Holland played all 72, and Andru Phillips played 53.

Marcus Mbow started at right tackle and played all 77 snaps. Jermaine Eluemunor was inactive with a calf injury. Mbow had split Week 5 with Eluemunor, 45 snaps to 44. Left tackle Andrew Thomas played 52 snaps. The gamebook lists him as questionable to return after a play with 7:08 left in the fourth quarter. The team said in its postgame analysis that he was evaluated for a concussion and cleared. J.C. Davis played 25 snaps.

Harbaugh had not named a starting quarterback for the Oct. 25 game at Houston as of Monday afternoon.