Giants Rise in Latest MMQB Power Rankings Poll

Entering the 2026 season, much of the Giants’ potential promise rested on Dart and whether he could make it through a full season without succumbing to injury.

When Dart’s campaign ended two weeks in, much of the belief in Harbaugh’s locker room seemed to go with it. Skepticism only grew as injuries to key figures like linebackers Brian Burns and Tremaine Edmunds piled up, and the switch to McCarthy, whose early NFL career hadn’t inspired much confidence, emboldened the doubters further.

Granted, McCarthy came in after missing his entire rookie year with the Vikings because of a knee injury, then started only 10 games in 2025, posting a 6-4 record but a mediocre 57.6% completion percentage and an 11-12 touchdown-to-interception ratio.

Questions also lingered about McCarthy’s fit with the culture Harbaugh was quickly building in East Rutherford, but none of that mattered to the established head coach. Like any of his bold moves so far, it aligned with what gave his team the best chance to win football games.

As split as Orr and others may have been on Harbaugh’s handling of certain roster decisions in his first six games in command, McCarthy was validated by his performance and by how the rest of the players rallied around their new starter against the Texans.

With a full game under his belt, McCarthy displayed total poise in the pocket, throwing at a 7.5-yard clip that marked the highest single-game average with at least 20 completions by a Giants quarterback this season.

His ability to take off with the football also helped revive the RPO-style offense that Matt Nagy had been eager to run with Dart. The run game exploded for 188 yards and three touchdowns as the Texans had to respect the mobile quarterback.

Along with a better performance from the defense, those elements sparked a massive win over Houston that sends the Giants into the bye week with a two-game lead in the division and, suddenly, the respect of the rest of the league, with a chance to make some noise as the calendar flips to November.

The Giants will get some well-deserved rest in Week 8. Still, as their rivals continue dealing with their own issues, Big Blue could return with a chance to cement its first claim to the NFC East crown since 2011, including by handling its remaining divisional business over the next two months of the regular season.

Harbaugh certainly isn’t leading a perfect group into the second half, and a few more surprise moves could come as the trade deadline looms, helping plug holes on both sides of the ball and get better for a postseason push.

For those who keep questioning how he is leaving his fingerprints on the organization or entrusting McCarthy to light the torch for the offense in the weeks to come, it has all been done with competitive balance in mind.

Neither Harbaugh nor his players are backing down from the goals he set on the first day of camp just because injuries have taken away a few talented leaders or because the schedule gets tougher after the break.

He sees a leader in McCarthy who can take the Giants the distance, and he isn’t buying the stories about his starting quarterback’s past after what he's seen in two short weeks of game action.

So far, the results speak for themselves, and the hope is that Harbaugh’s vindication continues when the Giants return and prepare for a big matchup with the Philadelphia Eagles two Sundays from now.