John Harbaugh Says Cam Skattebo Was NOT Benched Despite His Zero Touches in WK6???

Cam Skattebo played six snaps on Sunday, all of them in the first half. No rushes. No targets. And John Harbaugh insists it wasn't a benching.

Rich had a personal stake in the Giants' afternoon, too. He was locked into the Jameis Winston experience in fantasy, and all Winston produced before getting yanked was nine points. The Giants took a 10-0 lead, then the Saints ran off to a 34-10 lead before New York came storming back behind JJ McCarthy. "Got to wonder if the Jameis Winston experience is over," Rich said.

But the story everybody was talking about, with all due respect to McCarthy's explosiveness off the bench, was Skattebo appearing to be nailed to it.

The signs were there before kickoff. Rich noted that on Sunday morning, a lot of reporters seemed to have the same little birdie whispering to them, posting that Skattebo was going to get fewer touches and Najee Harris would get some run. Rich immediately picked up Harris for his fantasy matchup.

In reality football, though, this is a real story. Skattebo came into the season rehabbing, said he'd thought about retiring, then came back and was flipping on the Fanatics Fest stage while Harbaugh half-laughed it off. Skattebo and Jaxson Dart were supposed to be the Tango and Cash of the Giants. They looked unbeatable in week one. In week two, Dart went down. In week five, with the Giants on the precipice of beating Washington, Skattebo put the ball on the ground. That's four fumbles for number 44.

Skattebo, for his part, sounds like he believes it was a benching. "I got punished for what I did and I understand, so I got to be ready when coach calls my name and that wasn't today," he said. He added that he didn't expect zero carries, but did expect to play less. The message from the coaches? "Keep your head down and keep going."

He owned it, too. "I've made mistakes and I got to own up to them," Skattebo said. "I can't make mistakes at this level of this game and when you make mistakes like that, consequences are to be made."

The position still produced. Tyrone Tracy Jr. had the second game of his career with both a rushing and a receiving touchdown, making him the fourth Giants player in the last 50 years with multiple such games. The other three are named Saquon, Tiki and Ahmad Bradshaw. Devin Singletary was in the mix as well. Harris didn't get much run, partly because the Giants were so far behind.

Harbaugh's explanation was a masterpiece of coachspeak, or maybe honesty. Asked when he decided to bench Skattebo, he said flatly, "Didn't bench Cam Skattebo." He said the four backs were taking equal reps in the first half to see who could get a hot hand.

"You're balancing between four guys. Do the math. How many plays were there? That was our plan," Harbaugh said. "You can say, 'Well, I don't like that. I don't like you divvying up the snaps between four backs.' I can tell you, I don't like it either. One of those guys need to step up." And when pressed again, he closed the door: "That's like the best answer you could ever get on that in a thousand years. There's not a coach in the world that would give you a better answer than that."

Rich enjoyed the performance. "John Harbaugh in the New York metropolitan area, ladies and gentlemen."

But Rich also had a clear take. Skattebo is without a doubt the biggest spark plug the Giants have at the position, the only back who, when he runs a certain way, can electrify the offense and the crowd. He's also fumbling too much. Rich read this as Harbaugh coaching the team hard in the way he knows, finally giving Skattebo a rap on the nose. And he noted that Ravens fans might raise an eyebrow at the idea of Harbaugh simply losing track of his star running back.

Still, Rich's bottom line was that the team is better when Skattebo is out there. You can't have him not touch the ball in a game. At some point, Rich said, you're cutting off your nose to spite your face.

The stakes are why it matters. The NFC East is wide open. Jalen Hurts is likely out for the year. The Cowboys can't put four consistent quarters together. The Commanders can't tell time, and they were facing the 49ers, arguably the best team in football, on Monday night. Going into week seven, Rich said, the Giants are better positioned than anybody in the division.

So his advice was to take a deep breath and let Harbaugh be Harbaugh. And to turn to his Michigan man, McCarthy, and say go for it.