The New York Giants reshuffled their special teams roster Sunday to carry three quarterbacks — starter Jameis Winston, elevated practice-squad arm Jake Haener and newly acquired J.J. McCarthy — on their 46-man game-day roster. The move gave coaches the option to insert McCarthy into live action at any point, rather than limiting him to emergency duty if the top two quarterbacks went down. In the end, he never got on the field.
“We had enough guys playing special teams, and it just gave us an option in case we wanted to put J.J. out there to run certain plays that we had prepared for him,” head coach John Harbaugh said. “But to think that he was going to be the backup for the whole game was unrealistic. So we had Jake up, too, and that was our thinking. We just felt like we needed three guys for kind of the two roles.”
The Giants ran two 2-point conversion attempts during the game — the kind of play where McCarthy’s mobility might have added an unpredictable wrinkle — but Harbaugh said there was never any real consideration of sending him in as the game played out.
Center Shuffle
Bryan Hudson started at center in place of John Michael Schmitz, who missed practice time during the week after his wife gave birth. Schmitz showed up to the stadium wearing a “Dad” hat.
“Huddy had been doing so well,” Harbaugh said. “We kind of felt like, ‘He’s got the reps. He’s made the calls, and we were kind of thinking about starting to work him in a little bit here and there — even some extra line stuff — if possible. … JMS didn’t have a lot of rest. It just made sense, and I think it paid off. It’s not a long-term thing. We just have two centers we really like.”
Injuries and Defense
Wide receiver Braxton Berrios (foot), safety Jason Pinnock (concussion) and defensive lineman Chauncey Golston (neck) were all ruled out in the third quarter. Tyler Nubin, who had started the game but was benched for Pinnock after a poor angle and a missed tackle allowed Tyler Allgeier to score on a 22-yard touchdown run, returned to the field once Pinnock left the game.
Rookie kicker Dominic Zvada remained perfect, going 9-for-9 on field goals to open his career and becoming the first Giants rookie to hit three or more field goals of 50-plus yards in a single season through Week 4. “That kid’s doing a great job,” Harbaugh said, “but he’s going to be thinking about the next kick.”
The Giants’ pass rush, a weak spot through the first month of the season, generated seven quarterback hits on Cardinals QB Jacoby Brissett, three of them from Abdul Carter. Tremaine Edmunds and C.J. Okoye each recorded sacks, tripling the team’s season total from one to three.
“Any time you are playing a veteran who wants to stay in the pocket, get the ball out fast, everything is on time,” Carter said, “when you disrupt his timing and get him on the ground a few times, it helps a lot.”
