QB J.J. McCarthy on feeling at home with the Giants

J.J. McCarthy (0:00)

Great work today, we got better. And it's all about getting into the film room and just focusing on things we can clean up, little things, little details. And we got a great team this week going into their house. It's going to be a hostile environment, great defense. And we're looking forward to the challenge. So I'll open it up to any questions.

SPEAKER_2 (0:18)

What about what Matt's having you do, or about this scheme do you think is working for you?

J.J. McCarthy (0:25)

I absolutely love his play calling and how he adapts with the flow of the game. Like he has a beautiful idea and vision going into the game, and most of the time it carries out. But there's times where he's got to pivot, and seeing him pivot in the last month that I've been here, it's been really exciting to see and just an honor to play for him and go execute the football plays with the 10 guys with me in that huddle. And yeah, I'm going to continue to do that.

SPEAKER_3 (0:54)

JJ., you just mentioned hostile environments. You know, obviously Philly is one of the big ones. What's the most hostile environment you would say you have played in so far, your career?

J.J. McCarthy (1:04)

My career?

SPEAKER_3 (1:05)

Yeah.

J.J. McCarthy (1:09)

Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan State, you know, those really the big three, but I have to say the horseshoe for sure.

SPEAKER_3 (1:16)

I mean, I know we didn't lose any of those games. So do you think that helps something in your DNA? You go into a very hostile place in the NFL, I have been to hostile environments and done okay there or very well there.

J.J. McCarthy (1:30)

I actually did lose my freshman year. I didn't start against Michigan State, but Kenneth Walker had his way with us. And just, you know, it's all about us and how we execute the football plays. Obviously it gets very loud, but you know, the preparation throughout the week, you know, the nonverbal communication is just, you know, a huge key in any environment, but especially on the road and loud crowd environments. But at the end of the day, you know, it's just about executing those ball plays and not worrying about anything else.

Bruce (1:59)

JJ., are you looking forward to joining this long, bitter rivalry this weekend?

J.J. McCarthy (2:04)

I am. I'm definitely honored to be a New York football giant and everything that comes with it, this division, these rivalry games, you know, we're so blessed to be able to have two back-to-back. But at the end of the day, we're focused on Philly. And yeah, it's going to be a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_5 (2:19)

JJ., I know you said after the Houston game that football is football, so you were able to kind of pick up the scheme here. But having the bye week come when it did after your first start, how have you been able to better digest the playbook, better get on the same page with Matt over this past week and a half, or two weeks?

J.J. McCarthy (2:36)

Yeah, the bye week came at a great time. I definitely feel caught up completely with our offense and the intent behind every single play. And that's a credit to all the guys in the room with me, all the coaches and everyone on this team. They've helped me out so much. And I'm extremely blessed to be able to take advantage of this downtime that we had and really work on the mental game and make sure we're caught up and definitely feel like I'm in a really good spot in terms of operating this offense.

SPEAKER_2 (3:04)

What would you do specifically to kind of work on the mental game? Or did you just meet with Matt?

SPEAKER_6 (3:09)

Was there anything you did to catch up on that?

J.J. McCarthy (3:11)

For sure. Communication with Matt and Greg. And just being able to be in the building and turn on the tape and watch all the training camp, individual routes that might be more feel than lines on a page. And just kind of getting on the same page with Ze, getting on the same page with all the other guys, but really just watching what they do and adapting to them. And at the end of the day, it was a big week of just focusing on Philly as well. And it was just all about, yeah, just kind of figuring out how they run the routes, what they see in the zones, and how they feel to leverage man-to-man coverage and going from there.