Giants Matt Nagy ready to open up playbook for J.J. McCarthys first start

The Giants’ ever-changing quarterback situation is testing offensive coordinator Matt Nagy’s math skills.  Get texts from Paul Schwartz with all the latest Giants news and insights, exclusive to Sports+ subscribers.Nagy estimated that the Giants lost about 30 percent of their playbook — namely, the dual-threat quarterback section of zone reads and RPOs — when Jaxson Dart was injured in Week 2 and replaced by pocket passer Jameis Winston for four starts. The latest variable in the equation is the introduction of J.J.

McCarthy, who leapfrogged Winston to get the next start Sunday against the Texans. “Maybe now 20 percent of that 30 that was gone is back,” Nagy said before Thursday’s practice.“For us, what does he do well? You’ve seen some of the packages he’s done, but that can become predictable.

We don’t want to be predictable.Now that he’s the starter, it probably benefits us some that he’s just not always coming in to do predictable QB-driven runs.” Making just his second appearance since he was acquired in a Sept.

28 trade from the Vikings, McCarthy produced a historic fourth quarter — 243 passing yards and three scoring drives — off the bench last Sunday in nearly bringing the Giants back from a 24-point deficit in a 34-27 loss to the Saints. The performance backed up the coaching staff’s belief that McCarthy turned a corner last week and was ready for a bigger role. “Just the confidence of him being able to, in practice, talk to us about the scheme, where his eyes are going in the pass game, where he’s snapping the ball with a motion or a shift,” Nagy said. “If there was a shoestring with Jameis or he got hurt, he could go in and function.Whereas the first two weeks, I had a highlighted [play] call sheet that, if something happened and he was in, these were the plays.

It was probably 50 percent.Last week, it was probably 90 percent.

Now this week, it’s going to be 100 percent.” Tight end Isaiah Likel...