VIKINGS 23 - JETS 17
The New York Jets season FEELS like it's on life support. And I stress the word 'feels' mainly because their upcoming Week 6 opponent the Buffalo Bills are mired in a two-game losing streak themselves. But when those two teams meet up at MetLife Stadium, the loser will feel like their season is done.
For the Jets, Sunday morning's 23-17 loss to Sam Darnold and the 5-0 Minnesota Vikings was horrible. The Jets looked stuck with a case of jetlag for three whole quarters as they once again failed to muster much offense at all as Minnesota held onto a 17-10 lead.
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| Aaron Rodgers after a 23-17 loss to Vikings. Getty Images |
Even though it was a seven point game at that point, it felt like a 30-point deficit. Before waking up late in the fourth quarter, the Jets mustered only 168-yards of offense and 11 first downs.
Breece Hall was non-existent ... AGAIN.
And Aaron Rodgers was having easily his worst game in a green and white uniform with two early interceptions, including a pick-six by Vikings linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel, who stepped in front of a Rodgers pass, picked it off, and dashed down the sideline for a 63-yard touchdown to the euphoric cheers from a Vikings-heavy crowd in London, England.
The pick-six put the Jets in an early 10-0 hole, and before they could blink ex-Jets quarterback Sam Darnold engineered Minnesota on a crisp eight-play, 74-yard scoring drive that ended in a C.J. Ham touchdown that made it 17-0.
It was a up hill battle the rest of the way.
Let us not forget that Rodgers rolled up on that bad leg that he re-injured last week against Denver when he was brought down hard on third and ten at the Jets own 14-yard line with 6:10 to go in the third quarter. Rodgers lay on the ground for a minute, before getting escorted off the field by the Jets medical team, noticeably limping.
Rodgers later told reporters it was an ankle sprain.
And of course in Aaron Rodgers fashion, he almost brought the Jets back. He was pitch-point accurate in guiding New York in the four minute offense mid-way through the fourth quarter to get a score on a slant to Garret Wilson to cut the Vikings lead to 20-17.
Finally he had the Jets right on the doorstep of a miracle win. With the Jets at the Vikings' 26-yard line with less than a minute to go he missed on two straight passes, before tossing his third, and game-killing interception to Stephan Gillmore that ended the game.
The Jets limp home 2-3. The fans anger over the Jets inability manufacture victories is not going to quiet the calls for head coach Robert Saleh to be fired. The pressure is only get ramped up now on the entire team.
LONDON
From a personal standpoint, this was my first trip ever to London, England. What a week it was. When the Jets schedule came out last May, and their trip was confirmed, it was a no-brainer to go for it. Give the NFL and their partners On Location credit, they know how to put forward a great product and vacation.
They offered two packages, the Ted Lasso package, which as one can imagine is a tour of various soccer stadium. The other package was a tour of the historic sites in the U.K. like Westminster Abby and Windsor castle.
Well, this was a no-brainier to me as well. If you enjoy history, have been exposed to shows like Netflix's The Crown, and just generally follow International news, and the U.K. has had lot of news in recent years, hitting the historic sites is an absolute must.
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| Windsor Castle - Michael Cohen |
Beyond that, The whole city is beyond incredible; a friendly environment, with nice people. England was great.
The fan interaction on Sunday was off the charts.
Imagine a football stadium in the middle of a suburban neighborhood (Green Bay we are looking at you). Tottenham Stadium is absolutely a terrific location for the NFL's brand of football, and this will only get bigger and better here in the U.K. If you haven't been, I definitely recommend.
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