How will Giants respond to John Harbaugh in Houston? ‘Nobody’s safe’

HOUSTON — Najee Harris was the Giants‘ starting running back in a game seven days ago.

He carried the ball four times against the Saints, questioned John Harbaugh’s four running back rotation after the loss and got cut two days later.

That happened on the heels of Harbaugh icing Cam Skattebo out of the running game entirely against New Orleans due to repeated fumbling.

Then Harbaugh and defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson called defensive players onto the carpet this week as “traitors” showing a lack of “effort” on some key plays against New Orleans. The coaches threatened personnel changes if they don’t see immediate improvement.

The message?

“Nobody’s safe,” Skattebo said Friday. “It’s as simple as that. When we go on the field, if we’re not performing, we understand there’s a possibility of not being here.”

Accountability was lacking in the Giants’ entire organization prior to Harbaugh’s hiring, from the front office to the locker room. So it must be remembered he was brought here to clear the stink of losing out of the building.

That was always going to be uncomfortable.

Harbaugh is pushing extremely hard on that front only seven games into his tenure, though, as the Giants (3-2-1) enter as 10.5-point underdogs to face the Houston Texans (2-4) as NRG Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

And on top of that, he benched starting quarterback veteran Jameis Winston and made the move to young J.J. McCarthy for his first start as a Giant against one of the NFL’s scariest defenses on the road.

Harbaugh didn’t even make an announcement about it to the team, either. He just let them find out when they started reviewing the game plan and saw McCarthy’s number on the play sheets.

So yes, everyone is waiting to see how the Giants will play with a new QB and a fire lit under them. But this game is about much more than that.

This game is about how the locker room responds to being pushed out of its comfort zone by a head coach trying to set a new tone.

McCarthy said he believes he has grown in “understanding the nature of NFL football” since failing to hook on with the Minnesota Vikings as their 2024 first-round pick.

“It’s extremely different from college football,” McCarthy, 23, said this week. “Just being able to be smart and respond in the right situations and understand, ‘Hey, I can force this here. I shouldn’t force this here.’ And just kind of having more of a feel of NFL defenses and schemes of the specific coordinators and coaching trees and compartmentalizing specific stuff and stuff in your offense.”

McCarthy’s first task, before scoring points, will be to keep the offense on the field: Keeping the Giants on schedule, using the read option game to help the space available to the backs in the run game and protecting the football.

Harbaugh should put fullback Pat Ricard on the field more often to help McCarthy do that. The Giants have a 3-0 record this season when Ricard plays 45% or more of the snaps and a 0-2-1 record when he plays less often.

Harbaugh should not let game script dictate Ricard’s playing time. Even if the Giants are trailing, Ricard improves the Giants’ physical presence, helps the O-line and keeps them balanced.

The true test of the Giants’ response to Harbaugh will come from the play of the struggling offensive line and the disappointing defense.

The offense is running the ball for fewer yards per carry with Bryan Hudson at center (3.1) than John Michael Schmitz (3.69) since Harbaugh benched Schmitz in Week 4 when he had his baby. On defense, meanwhile, shoulders have slumped the last couple weeks as opponents have run all over the Giants and produced explosive plays.

Defensive tackle D.J. Reader told Daily News after last week’s loss to the Saints that he noticed some players “think of old things … when bad things happen” and said “that’s tough to get out of your mindset.”

Reader is being a good veteran leader, but the Giants defense is short on those with middle linebacker Tremaine Edmunds (shoulder) and Brian Burns (torn right ACL, meniscus) now both out for the season.

Tenured linebacker Micah McFadden will step in to Edmunds’ role calling the defense. And veteran corner Paulson Adebo’s return from injured reserve could help. But the results of the Saints game foreshadow a potentially long day in Houston.

The Saints entered that game averaging only 81.8 rushing yards per game, fourth worst in the NFL, and galloped for 175 against the Giants.

The Texans are only averaging 84.8 rush yards per game coming in, so it shouldn’t be difficult to make them one-dimensional. But the Giants have not shown the ability to do that even against teams that don’t run the ball well.

On offense, Skattebo appears prepared to re-enter the running back rotation in some form. He admitted it was more than the fumbling that got him benched and “taught a lesson.” And he worked on those elements this week.

“The simple fact of getting on the page with the offensive line, getting on the same page with them, understanding that it’s as little as we might think the offensive line has the guy’s right shoulder and we want him on the left shoulder,” Skattebo said, citing one detail he needed to improve. “It’s those little, tiny things. You can go back and watch a couple of runs. It’s one guy’s arm or a touchdown. We talked about it. This was a good meeting this week. We were on the same page and excited to see what we’ve got.”

Dealing with Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud and Houston No. 1 receiver will be a tough task on top of all that. Giants corner Deonte Banks he’s ready for the challenge of taking on the imposing Collins.

“I mean, I accept all challenges,” Banks said. “I’m up for any challenge, and I’m confident in my ability. He’s a good receiver. So I’m ready to go compete.”

But the question isn’t whether the Giants will press the Texans at the beginning of the game. The question is how they will react when adversity strikes, when the game turns out of their favor, when the pressure Harbaugh is putting on them meets the pressure of another opponent trying to take their will away.

“If I don’t perform, I know there’s a possibility of me not being here,” Skattebo said. “We came in this week. We continue to work. We know where we’re at. We know what we have. If we put that to display, we’re going to be just fine.”

HOLLAND, JOHNSON OUT

Safety Jevón Holland (concussion, questionable) and tight end Theo Johnson (neck, doubtful) both were downgraded to out on Saturday for Sunday’s game, making the Giants more shorthanded, in particular in the secondary where corner Greg Newsome (concussion) was already sidelined.