Vikings 37 Jets 17: A Windy Day; An Ugly Loss

The Jets’ two game winning streak came to an end today as New York fell to the Minnesota Vikings 37-17 at MetLife Stadium. This dropped the team’s record to 3-4. Let’s talk about what went wrong.

The Bad

Sam Darnold: Darnold certainly wasn’t helped by his receiving corps in this game. There were some drops in key moments. You can also pin some of his poor performance on the weather. The wind was a big factor in this game, and it impacted almost every aspect of it. Darnold’s counterpart, Kirk Cousins, certainly was having trouble with it. Perhaps the wind contributed to how far off the mark many of Darnold’s passes were.

With that said, Darnold didn’t do a whole lot right in this game after the first quarter. The wind might affect accuracy, but it has little to do with decision-making. Darnold just threw into double coverage too frequently.

It was kind of surprising how things just fell apart for Sam because he was red hot at the start of the game. He was 6 for his first 9 for 87 yards and a touchdown. He finished 17 for 42 for 206 yards with 1 touchdown, and 3 interceptions.

I guess you just have to move on.

Spencer Long: To some extent I can give a pass for inaccurate throws and kicks in this game because of the wind. I might be tempted to give Long the same courtesy for his inaccurate snaps, but it’s tough to blame those on the wind when they have been happening for weeks. On top of that, he continues to be a penalty machine. You can trace the end of three first half drives directly to a Long bad snap or penalty. It is really tough for me to believe how bad this signing looks through seven games.

Isaiah Crowell: He wasn’t very effective on the ground, netting just 29 yards on 11 carries. He also had a killer drop at a key point of the game in the second half.

Eric Tomlinson: Tomlinson followed up that ugly drop by Crowell with one of his own later on that same drive.

Thomas Hennessy: I probably will give Hennessy a pass for his poor long snap due to the wind, but for the sake of posterity, he did have that bad snap.

Andre Roberts: I know he had a couple of nice returns, but he still put the ball on the ground twice and forced the Jets to start a drive from deep in their own territory because he failed to secure a fair catch.

Darron Lee: Lee had a golden opportunity to recover an errant lateral in the second half to set up the Jets offense on a short field, but he wasn’t aware enough to find it. In addition, it looked like Latavius Murray’s 11 yard touchdown in the third quarter went into his gap, while he was wiped out of the play. He also overran the play on Murray’s 38 yard touchdown, leaving the huge cutback lane. I thought Lee played a solid first half. At halftime he was one of the good players in my notes, but the second half was a horror show for him.

The Good

Chris Herndon: Herndon continues to flash. He chipped in 4 catches for 42 yards and a touchdown. He also came within a yard or so of scoring a second touchdown. It’s starting to look like Herndon is going to be a really nice player once he puts the pieces together.

Jason Myers: Myers continues to be one of the pleasant surprises of this Jets season. A 55 yard field goal is impressive in any circumstances, but it is especially so in windy conditions like we saw today.

Brandon Copeland: He had 5 tackles, 2 of which went for a loss. One was a sack of Kirk Cousins that almost resulted in an early safety.

Morris Claiborne: I thought he was rock solid in coverage against difficult assignments. I don’t even really blame him for the late touchdown. I thought he was in great coverage on the play. It was just a bad break.

The Meh

I’m creating a new category here because some players don’t fit neatly into neatly into the good or bad groups. Some flashed multiple times for positive and negative reasons.

Darryl Roberts: It was a very eventful day for Roberts. The Vikings tested him frequently, and in the first half he held up more than he lost. He made tackles in space and held his own in coverage. With that said, there were some key losses such as the Adam Thielen 34 yard touchdown. He also whiffed on a tackle on one of Murray’s touchdown runs. He made enough plays that I can’t say he was bad, but I can’t say somebody who was partially responsible for a pair of touchdowns belongs in the good category.

The Jets end their three game homestand with a 2-1 record. Next up is a trip to Chicago.