Giants Passing Game: Dart vs. Winston vs. McCarthy by the Numbers

Oct 24

4 min read

Updated: 13 hours ago

Published Oct 24, 2026, 11:12 AM ET | By Vincent Rapisardi

Key points

Jaxson Dart completed 26 of 34 passes for 250 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions before his Week 2 knee injury.
Jameis Winston has 957 yards, seven touchdowns and five interceptions at 6.1 yards per attempt in five games.
JJ McCarthy threw for 243 yards in one quarter against the Saints and starts at Houston on Oct. 25.

The Giants passing game has run through three quarterbacks in six games. Jaxson Dart started the first two, Jameis Winston the next four, and JJ McCarthy takes over at Houston.

Each one has produced a different kind of offense. This guide compares them side by side using box-score totals from Pro Football Reference, so the differences are easy to see as the season goes on.

The sample sizes are very different, which matters. Winston has thrown 158 passes, Dart 34 and McCarthy 21.

Giants Passing Game by Quarterback

QB	Comp-Att / yards	TD-INT / Y/A
Jaxson Dart	26-34 / 250	3-0 / 7.4
Jameis Winston	90-158 / 957	7-5 / 6.1
JJ McCarthy	11-21 / 243	1-1 / 11.6

Source: Pro Football Reference. Y/A = passing yards per attempt.

Yards per attempt is the simplest efficiency measure. It divides passing yards by passes thrown, and incompletions count as zero, so it rewards both accuracy and big plays.

Jaxson Dart: Efficient and Mobile

Dart's season was short but clean. In the opener against Dallas he completed 23 of 29 passes for 230 yards and three touchdowns in a 28-20 win, and he added 54 rushing yards on 11 carries.

He was injured at Los Angeles in Week 2 after five pass attempts, and the Giants lost 28-6. The knee injury ended his season.

The offense around him leaned on the shotgun and the RPO game, the plan quarterbacks coach Brian Callahan described in August, as we covered in Jaxson Dart Keeps Shotgun, RPO Game in Giants Offense, Callahan Says.

Jameis Winston: Volume With Turnovers

Winston has carried most of the season. The Giants went 2-1-1 in his four starts, beating Tennessee 12-7 and Arizona 36-24, tying Washington 27-27 and losing to New Orleans 34-27.

His best game was at Washington, where he threw 54 passes for 326 yards and three touchdowns. His toughest were Week 2 in relief, 11 of 27 for 111 yards, and Week 6, when he was pulled after his second interception.

Winston has been sacked 15 times in five games. His 6.1 yards per attempt is the lowest of the three quarterbacks.

JJ McCarthy: The Deep Ball

McCarthy's only passes came in the fourth quarter against the Saints, the most explosive stretch of the season. He completed 11 of 21 passes for 243 yards, one touchdown and one interception as the Giants cut a 34-10 deficit to 34-27.

PFF had him first among all quarterbacks in Week 6 in both yards per attempt and average depth of target. We covered those numbers in JJ McCarthy Led NFL QBs in Yards Per Attempt in Giants Relief Role.

Coach John Harbaugh named McCarthy the Houston starter on Oct. 22. Winston returns to the backup role, with Jake Haener as the emergency third quarterback.

The Giants acquired him from Minnesota on Sept. 28. In 10 starts for the Vikings in 2025, he went 6-4 with 11 touchdowns and 12 interceptions, per Pro Football Reference.

First Downs and Sacks by Quarterback

Two more numbers help explain the gap. The first is how often a pass moves the chains. Dart turned 16 of his 34 attempts into first downs, McCarthy 8 of 21 and Winston 48 of 158.

That is roughly 47% for Dart, 38% for McCarthy and 30% for Winston.

The second is sacks. Winston has been sacked 15 times on about 173 dropbacks, close to 9% of the time. Dart was sacked twice and McCarthy once, both in much smaller samples.

Sacks are not only on the quarterback. Protection, play design and receivers getting open all matter, so the line deserves part of the blame.

Who the Giants Quarterbacks Throw To

The target tree has stayed steady through the changes. Malik Nabers and Isaiah Likely have drawn 120 of the team's 206 targets, as we detail in our Giants pass catchers target share guide.

That gives McCarthy the same top two options Winston had, plus rookie Malachi Fields, who played 94% of the snaps in Week 6.

What to Watch in the Giants Passing Game

Three numbers will show whether the McCarthy change works. The first is yards per attempt: the Giants have been near 6 with Winston, and anything above 7 would be a clear upgrade.

The second is turnovers. McCarthy threw 12 interceptions in 10 starts last season, and Houston's pass rush ranks among the league leaders in sacks.

The third is the run game. A mobile quarterback should open up the zone-read and RPO concepts that Dart ran, which could help a backfield averaging about 3.4 yards per carry.

This guide will be updated after each game with the new totals.

Our Take: McCarthy Now, Dart Long Term

I still see Jaxson Dart as the Giants' franchise quarterback, and I believe he is still the guy in 2027. With a franchise quarterback, patience is the point.

For this season, I wanted JJ McCarthy named the starter, and the Giants made the right call. His mobility gives the coaches more options and should help the run game.

I'd like to see more RPO with him, which is the same menu that worked for Dart in September.

Jameis Winston's numbers in this guide show why the change came. A fine backup can handle a few games, but turnovers and sacks add up over a longer stretch.

The best case is that McCarthy keeps the offense competitive this fall, and Dart returns next year to a system the staff has already tested.

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