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5 questions for the Giants over the bye week

JJ-MCCARTHY

Five questions for the Giants as they head into the bye week with the NFC East lead:

1. Will things settle down in Crazy Town?

As Ingrid Harbaugh told her husband earlier this month, the NFL is "crazy town" right now. And the Giants have been living at the heart of downtown.

John Harbaugh's first season with the Giants had an ideal beginning as they defeated the rival Cowboys in primetime at MetLife Stadium. Seven snaps later on the other side of the country, it took a turn when Jaxson Dart went down with a knee injury. It was only the beginning for a team that has now faced a season's worth of adversity in the first seven games.

Nevertheless, they sit atop the NFC East with a 4-2-1 record.

"It's a massive energy shot in the arm," Harbaugh said after the Giants defeated the Texans in overtime on the road. "It's a reward. Now, you've got to make something of it. It doesn't mean anything if you don't build on it, right? But it means something. But it doesn't mean we're going to win a championship yet. It means we have an opportunity, though."

With a two-game lead in the win column, the Giants are guaranteed to remain in first place when they resume action. They will have a chance to take total control with two divisional games upcoming – at Philadelphia and home against Washington on Thursday night – in a five-day span.

"We'll be thinking about two games as a coaching staff over the bye week," said Harbaugh, who is 15-3 in games immediately following the bye week. "The two most important games of the season will be coming up after we come back from the bye, which will set the direction for the rest of the season really. But we're going to be in this thing until the end now."

2. How does J.J. McCarthy continue to develop?

For the first time since quarterback starts were first tracked in 1950, the Giants have won a game with three different quarterbacks in the first seven games. J.J. McCarthy, less than a month since he was traded from Minnesota, became the third after he took over for Jameis Winston, who went 2-1-1 after Dart went down. McCarthy has now won five consecutive starts dating back to last December with the Vikings and looked like he made a seamless transition to his new surroundings.

"He has scars," Harbaugh said. "He's been wounded. He's been broken. He's been battered. But you heal stronger, and you become better because of it. So he should be grateful. Okay, I won a National Championship, got a high pick for the Minnesota Vikings, was the guy after they let the veteran quarterback go to Seattle, fought my way through but it ended up not working out for me, got benched, got ridiculed, got traded. Got traded, good. Good on every single one of those counts because it's made me stronger. It's made me who I am if I'm of the character to understand that. That's how life works. That's why I love football as a metaphor for life, for kids watching. That's a lesson for everybody. Failure is not final."

Relive the best moments from the first half of the Giants' 2026 season.

3. What happens now in the RB room?

The running back room was challenged heading into the Texans game and more than rose to the occasion. Cam Skattebo had a career day to help set up Devin Singletary's walk-off touchdown in overtime. Meanwhile, Tyrone Tracy Jr. scored for the third time in a two-game span. But once again, adversity struck. Tracy was placed on injured reserve in the wake of the game with a hamstring issue. It is not expected to be season-ending, but it will keep him out for at least four games. The earliest he could return is Week 13 against San Francisco.

In the meantime, the Giants signed undrafted rookie Gregory Desrosiers to the active roster from the Chargers' practice squad.

"That's why we're poaching the running back from the Chargers," general manager Joe Schoen said in his bye week press conference. "And then we have a practice squad running back in (Phil) Mafah, who we like. He was drafted by the Cowboys a couple years ago. So, we like him and again, we've been rolling with three. Last week was the first week, but ideally, that's typically your number, depending on special teams. So, I still have a lot of confidence in Skatt and Motor (Singletary) and I'm excited to see what Greg can do."

4. Can the defensive stars keep shining?

The Giants' quarterback situation has generated most of the headlines, but the defense has overcome its share of key injuries while seeing breakout performances at every level. Dennard Wilson's unit played without five of its starters in Houston and still limited the Texans to 237 yards and just three third-down conversions on 12 attempts. Similar to Harbaugh with the offense, the defensive coordinator challenged his players leading into the game.

"I would have to say Dennard probably beat me on that one, wouldn't you say?" Harbaugh said. "As far as the openly (challenging the players), I think he got me by a little bit of a stretch there. To me, I don't know if it's philosophy so much. It's just a week to week feel thing with your guys. We have a bunch of good guys. Our guys understand that we have to confront everything that has to do with our football, and if we do that, that comes from a place of love because we care enough, we all care enough, and we need to hear it too, as coaches, and we did from our players."

5. Will the Giants make moves as the trade deadline looms?

Once the dust settles on Texans film review, Schoen said he would sit down with Harbaugh and they would go over the state of the roster. There is now less than two weeks until the Nov. 10 trade deadline.

"We'll look at the roster as a whole," Schoen said. "Who are the free agents? We'll also talk about the trade candidates and start having those conversations. This year is a little bit different where we are. We have 14 days until the trade deadline, so we still have some time there. That'll play into it if you approach any of our players for contract extensions in the bye week or hey, do we allocate draft resources and financial resources to somebody outside the building? Those are all big picture meetings that we'll have here over the next couple of days."

Schoen added, "A lot of factors that we'll look at and who's going to be available, who's really available. And it's easy to say, go sign X, Y, and Z position but if a team's really not ready to get rid of somebody where they're asking too much, it doesn't match up with where you see the value, then it doesn't make sense to do it. So, we're going to look at all the options that are available. And there's certain teams that have already started some trades and we've been in contact with those teams and have a pretty good idea of who may or may not be available. And again, it's got to make sense, short-term and long-term, when you make those moves."

View photos from every win of John Harbaugh's career as head coach.

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The Giants Foundation 5K & Kids Run

Bring your friends, family and neighbors out to run The Giants Foundation 5K Presented by Quest® on Sunday, November 8th and finish in the end zone at MetLife Stadium!

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