Giants-Titans Preview: Winston Makes First Start in Rain and Wind
Titans coach Robert Saleh said Friday his team would practice with wet footballs; John Harbaugh said, "We didn't do wet balls." Rain and gusts as high as 47 mph are forecast for Sunday.
Jameis Winston makes his first start of the season Sunday when the Giants (1-1) host the Tennessee Titans (0-2) at 1 p.m. ET at MetLife Stadium. Coach John Harbaugh named him the starter Wednesday, when he said Jaxson Dart would be out for the "regular season at least" with a knee injury, according to a Giants.com transcript.
The National Weather Service forecasts rain for East Rutherford on Sunday, possibly with a thunderstorm before 2 p.m. and showers likely after that, and a northeast wind of 21 to 25 mph with gusts as high as 47 mph.
How to watch
The game airs on CBS, with Andrew Catalon on play-by-play, Logan Ryan as the analyst and A.J. Ross on the sideline, according to Giants.com. It streams on Paramount+ and NFL+. Bob Papa, Carl Banks and Howard Cross have the radio call on WFAN 101.9 FM.
The line
As of Saturday night, DraftKings had the Giants as 2.5-point favorites, with an over-under of 37.5 points and a Giants moneyline of minus-135, according to ESPN's odds page, checked at about 8 p.m. ET. The game opened at Giants minus-3 with an over-under of 45.5, according to ESPN. VegasInsider's consensus moneyline has moved from Giants minus-175 at the open to minus-135.
All seven sportsbooks on VegasInsider's page Saturday had the Giants at minus-2.5. Six had the over-under at 37.5, and BetRivers had it at 38.
The 8-point drop in the over-under is the largest move from the open among the 15 Week 3 games still to be played, and 37.5 is the lowest over-under among them, according to ESPN's DraftKings board. The next-lowest is 40.5, for Seattle at Washington.
ESPN Analytics' matchup predictor gives the Titans a 54.1% chance to win.
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The weather
The NWS point forecast for East Rutherford, last updated at 3:21 p.m. Saturday, puts the chance of precipitation Sunday at 90%, with three-quarters of an inch to an inch of new rain possible and a high near 65. A wind advisory runs until noon Sunday and a coastal flood warning until 6 p.m.
Resale tickets fell as low as $17 on TickPick this week, ProFootballTalk's Mike Florio reported Saturday.
The quarterbacks
Winston replaced Dart on the seventh play of the Week 2 loss to the Rams and completed 11 of 27 passes for 111 yards with an interception, according to the Giants.com Week 3 tracker by Dan Salomone and Matt Citak. Offensive coordinator Matt Nagy said Thursday that to simplify things for Winston in that game, when a play had a motion and a shift, "we either eliminated it or we used one motion, not two," according to a Giants.com transcript. He said the staff now gets a chance to "design around Jameis' strengths."
Winston is 36-53 as a starter in his career, according to Pro Football Reference, and has lost his last five starts: three with Cleveland in December 2024 and two with the Giants in November 2025. His most recent start was a 34-27 overtime loss at Detroit on Nov. 23, 2025, when he threw for 366 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. He has thrown 114 interceptions on 3,271 career attempts, a 3.5% rate.
The Giants signed Jake Haener from the practice squad to the 53-man roster Saturday to back up Winston and elevated wide receiver Braxton Berrios and linebacker Malik Harrison for the game, according to the team. Harbaugh said Friday he has "a ton of faith" in Haener, according to a transcript on Giants.com. "But going forward, we just can't have two," he said. "So, we'll be adding guys."
The Athletic's Dan Duggan wrote on X on Saturday: "Seems like they're going to carry three QBs so they have an emergency QB once they add someone next week." Berrios told NorthJersey.com's Art Stapleton that he had been told informally he would play quarterback if Winston had been hurt against the Rams.
Harbaugh discussed Dart's injury and the move to Winston at his Wednesday news conference, in video posted by SNY.
Injuries
Outside linebacker Brian Burns (ankle), cornerback Deonte Banks (calf) and safety Tyler Nubin (calf) are questionable, according to the Giants' final injury report. Burns did not practice all week. Left tackle Andrew Thomas (groin) has no designation. Asked Friday whether it was true that he had no question about playing Sunday, Thomas answered, "Yep," according to a Giants.com transcript.
Duggan projected on X on Saturday that Burns, Banks and Nubin will all be inactive, with Colton Hood starting at cornerback and Ar'Darius Washington at safety.
Tennessee lists cornerback Cor'Dale Flott (quad) and running back Tyjae Spears (ankle) as questionable, according to the Titans' injury report. The Titans signed defensive back Erick Hallett to the active roster Saturday, waived linebacker Owen Pappoe and elevated running back Michael Carter from the practice squad, the team announced.
Keys to the game
Giants defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson ran the Titans' defense in 2024 and 2025. Titans quarterback Cam Ward was a rookie in 2025. Ward said this week that Wilson "was real helpful for me, especially when it came to blitzes," Titans.com's Jim Wyatt reported. Wilson said Thursday, according to a Giants.com transcript, "I love being a Giant and I'm not looking back." GiantsGator's position-by-position look at Tennessee is in its scouting report.
Wilson said Thursday the Giants want more sacks after the Rams used chip blocks against their rushers and Matthew Stafford got the ball out quickly. "Hopefully this week we can turn the table a little bit and get after their quarterback," he said. The Titans allowed three sacks to the Jets and two to the Eagles, according to ESPN's box scores for the Jets game and the Eagles game.
Winston was sacked twice in relief against the Rams, who had eight quarterback hits, according to the Giants.com tracker. Tennessee's defense had three sacks and intercepted Jalen Hurts twice last week, according to ESPN's box score.
The one thing to watch: a wet ball
Titans coach Robert Saleh said Friday the Titans would soak footballs in water and practice with a wet ball, even though it was sunny in Nashville, Wyatt reported. Asked the same day whether the Giants had done anything specific to prepare for rain, Harbaugh said, "We made the wind really pick up, but the rain we did not. We couldn't make it rain. We didn't do wet balls," according to the Giants.com transcript.
With the lowest over-under left on the Week 3 board, each turnover takes a larger share of the expected scoring than it would in a typical game.
Series history
The Giants have not beaten the Titans or Oilers at home since a 24-20 win over Houston in Week 17 of the 1991 season, according to Giants.com. They have hosted the franchise only three times since, in 2002, 2010 and 2018, and lost all three, according to Pro Football Reference.