While the Minnesota Vikings found a way to get a win and improve to 6-0 on Sunday, the team's former quarterback, J.J. McCarthy, was busy leading the New York Giants to a victory in his first-ever start for the franchise.
After a very impressive fourth-quarter showing last week, the Giants gave McCarthy the opportunity to start against the Houston Texans on Sunday, and it turned out to be the right choice.
New York emerged from the Week 7 matchup with a 27-21 win in overtime, and when the final whistle blew, the former Vikings quarterback ended his day completing 20-of-28 passes for 252 yards.
McCarthy didn't throw any touchdowns, but he also didn't throw any picks, which is something Minnesota fans know isn't always a guarantee whenever he's on the field.
Perhaps the game would've turned out differently had the Giants not been able to rush for 188 yards and four touchdowns, but in his first start since getting traded by the Vikings in September, McCarthy did exactly what New York needed him to do.
J.J. McCarthy supporters get another week to tell the Vikings they made the wrong choice
Unsurprisingly, not everyone was happy when Minnesota decided to trade McCarthy to the Giants in exchange for a 2027 fifth-round draft pick last month. Some believe the Vikings gave up on him too soon, and his performances in the last two weeks certainly aren't going to make any of those thoughts disappear.
But putting up good performances was never the problem for McCarthy in Minnesota. It was the fact that he couldn't string together multiple good games for several weeks in a row due to injury or just lack of skill.
In the first half against Houston on Sunday, McCarthy completed 9-of-12 passes for 178 yards (14.8 yards per attempt). But in the final two quarters and overtime, he only threw for 74 yards on 16 pass attempts (4.6 yards per throw).
The Texans clearly made some adjustments in the second half, and it reduced McCarthy's impact on the offense.
New York has next week off, so the former Vikings signal-caller will get some extra time to prepare for when the Giants return to the field in Week 9 to take on the Philadelphia Eagles.
Will McCarthy's performance against the Eagles look like the first half of Sunday's win over the Texans, or will it resemble something that's closer to how he played in the final two quarters in Houston?
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