The questions and stats looming over Giants Jameis Winston-J.J. McCarthy decision

If J.J.McCarthy was guaranteed to throw for 943 yards, rush for 104 yards and lead 12 scoring drives in his next start, then the Giants wouldn’t have a quarterback controversy on their hands.But, of course, it’s preposterous to conclude McCarthy’s fourth-quarter production against the Saints should be quadrupled to determine what he could do over the course of a full game.

Get texts from Paul Schwartz with all the latest Giants news and insights, exclusive to Sports+ subscribers.So, head coach John Harbaugh continued to “hone in on” whether McCarthy or Jameis Winston (2-1-1 as the starter) will start Sunday against the Texans.

Monday passed without a decision.“Jameis has done a great job in so many ways … and did what he had to do to win games, and that’s something you value very much,” Harbaugh said.“J.J.

just got here [via trade] a couple weeks ago, and where do we stand? We’re trying to put an offense together that he has a feel for.”There are extenuating circumstances — a 24-point deficit, a no-huddle offense, soft defensive coverage, abandonment of the run game, an opponent that temporarily removed starters, to name a few — to consider when judging whether McCarthy’s performance suggests he should be the starter and the Giants should change their identity to become more up-tempo and pass-oriented.The Giants snapped the ball every 14.6 seconds of possession with McCarthy in the fourth quarter.“That kind of an offense has been tried — you see it in college sometimes with teams that run no-huddle all the time or the run-and-shoot was like that,” Harbaugh said.“It hasn’t really proven to be sustainable.

It’s one-dimensional.It invites a lot of issues for your offense from a pass-rush standpoint if you don’t keep people honest.

Just like running the ball every play — three yards and a cloud of dust — is not sustainable.It’s been proven over time that being more balanced [is better].”Except that the Giants ...