NFL Roundup: Giants Start J.J. McCarthy, Ravens' Bateman Limited, Bears Lose Monangai
Four clubs spent Wednesday telling us where they stand, and only one of them said it out loud. The Giants picked a quarterback. The Ravens put a receiver on the practice report. The Bears lost a running back a day before kickoff. The Buccaneers are waiting on a thumb.
Start with the only real decision. New York plans to start J.J. McCarthy at quarterback this week against the Texans, per CBS Sports and ESPN, with Jameis Winston moving aside for McCarthy's first career start. The easy read is that the Giants have packed it in. I don't buy it. A first career start is an evaluation, and the Giants are choosing to run it now, against Houston, rather than in some softer spot later. That's a team that wants tape on McCarthy before it makes offseason decisions about him, and Winston is the cost of getting it. It also narrows the call sheet considerably: a first-time starter gets a smaller menu, more play-action, and a lot of runs on second-and-long. McCarthy is the one who benefits most. Winston is the one who loses a job he can't win back with somebody else's reps. My read is that the leash is short. If McCarthy turns it over early, the Giants will hide him and lean on the run game, and that would be a failure of the evaluation, not proof the evaluation was wrong.
Baltimore's news is smaller but just as worth watching. Rashod Bateman was a limited participant in Wednesday's practice, days after a shoulder injury forced him out of the Ravens' loss to the Browns. Wednesday limited is the least informative designation on the report. Shoulders are different from hamstrings for a receiver. A hamstring is a speed question, a shoulder is a catch-and-fall-on-it question, and the Ravens won't know which one they have until Bateman has to absorb contact. My read: he plays. If he's limited again Thursday, flip it, because a shoulder that doesn't improve in a day usually doesn't improve by Sunday.
Chicago has less time than anyone. Kyle Monangai is out Thursday against the Patriots with toe and thumb injuries, and the short week is the whole story. Two injuries at two different jobs. The toe is the plant-and-cut, the thumb is the ball security, and neither gets better on a short week. The Bears' backfield loses a body and the Bears' game plan loses a page, which matters more than usual with the Patriots on the other sideline getting a thinner offense to prepare for. I expect Chicago to spread the carries and throw to the backs more than it wants to.
Tampa Bay is in the holding pattern. Todd Bowles said Baker Mayfield practiced and looked good once he warmed up, and that the Buccaneers need to see how the thumb responds after a day before finalizing their game plan. Read the coach's phrasing again. "Once he warmed up" is doing more work than the practice designation. A thumb that needs a warmup to feel right in a practice is a thumb that isn't right. Bowles left the status uncertain and that's the honest version of what he saw. I'll still pick Mayfield to play, because a quarterback will always choose to play. What would make me wrong is a stiff morning, not a sore one.
The league-level read here is that three of these four are conditioning reports wearing an injury label. Wednesday's report in Baltimore and Tampa Bay is really about Thursday and Friday. Only the Giants made an actual decision, and it's the one that will be graded in January. My verdict: McCarthy starting now is the right move for New York and the wrong week for fantasy managers who rostered anyone in that passing game, and Bateman and Mayfield both suit up. If I'm wrong on either, it'll be because a shoulder and a thumb are the two joints that lie to you on a Wednesday.