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All-Pro edge rusher Micah Parsons is fully behind J.J. McCarthy after his impressive first start with the Giants in Week 7.
“Football is about consistency. Okay. Did he show why he was a first-round pick in that game? I’m going to say yes,” Parsons said on his “The Edge” podcast.
The Giants’ recently acquired quarterback put on an eye-opening display in a 27-21 overtime win versus the Texans this past Sunday.
He completed 20-of-28 passes for 252 yards and kept the Texans’ defense on their heels with solid decision-making that often eluded him during his stint in Minnesota.
“What I appreciate for his short run there, he was consistent. He didn’t cause a lot,” the Packers pass-rushing star, who is expected back soon after tearing his ACL last season, said.
“He didn’t turn the ball over, which is crucial, and he let his defense win the game. And then his running backs did what they were supposed to do.”
Parsons, who spent his first four seasons with division rival Cowboys, credits a newly established offense built by Giants coordinator Matt Nagy as the pivotal piece to McCarthy’s early success.
“I’m going to say, ‘I told you so’. He joined a system that well fits him. Run, play-action, live and die by it. Twenty-eight passes. Now, how many of them were true drop-backs? Not a ton. It was a lot of back-to-the-defense action. He took a lot of shots, like he pushed the ball, but it wasn’t ‘take a five-step drop, hitch, make a throw.’” Parsons said. “You got to understand every quarterback isn’t three-shot, live in shotgun. Every quarterback can’t live in shotgun.”
The 10th overall pick in the 2024 draft will now have the rest of the season to showcase the upside that Michigan Wolverines fans saw during their national championship run.
However, Parsons said that he does not expect McCarthy to be the Giants’ quarterback of the future. He was acquired by the team for a fifth-round draft pick on Sept. 28 after starting QB Jaxson Dart was lost for the season following knee surgery.
“It’s his team to lose,” Parsons said of Dart. “There’s nothing he (McCarthy) can do to take that job.. The only thing he can do is gain value. They’re not going to take the main guy’s job unless Jaxson Dart just doesn’t look the same … We’ve seen that, don’t get us wrong.”
Since getting benched and traded by the Vikings, McCarthy has 495 passing yards while completing 63 percent of his passes, one touchdown, one interception and a career-high 95.2 passer rating throughout his first six quarters with the Giants.
