Aaron Rodgers doesn't have the Jets cooking and now they face juggernaut Vikings
A team stacked with a talented defense along with Aaron Rodgers, Breece Hall and Garrett Wilson on offense fell flat in a 10-9 home loss to the Denver Broncos on Sunday and it is cause for significant concern in New York, especially as the road only gets more daunting as the Jets hop the pond and battle the undefeated Minnesota Vikings in London on Sunday.
The Jets were bludgeoned by the 49ers in Week 1 and then beat the Titans and Patriots before the dud this past Sunday against Bo Nix and the Broncos. When you add it all up, the Jets are a team defined by 10 quarters of lousy offense and six quarters of solid offense. When you dig deeper, you find that those six quarters of good football came against terrible teams.
The Titans are winless and the Patriots have lost three in a row after shocking the Bengals in the opener. Make no mistake: the Jets dominated all four quarters against the Patriots, but they were bad and trailed the Titans 10-7 in the first half.
The Jets are 22nd in the league in total offense, averaging 294.8 yards per game. The biggest struggles are on the ground as Hall and company are toting the rock for only 91.5 yards per game, which ranks 27th. Hall, considered one of the top running backs in the game, is averaging 3.1 yards per carry and has just 174 rushing yards through four weeks.
"Hall’s struggles are harder to pinpoint. He does not look as explosive as he did last year, which is strange because he is now two years removed from ACL surgery," writes Brian Costello of the New York Post. "Hall has one long run, a 30-yarder against the Titans. He only has three total runs of 10 yards or more. He has 15 runs of no gain or negative yardage."
In the air, Rodgers has six touchdowns and only one interception, but he's been unable to find Wilson for explosive plays. Wilson has 20 catches through four games but only 191 yards, good for an average of 9.1 yards per catch. His longest reception of the season is 26 yards.
For context, Justin Jefferson also has 20 catches through four weeks but the Vikings superstar has 358 yards and he has five grabs that have gone for at least 20 yards, including a 97-yard score in Week 2 against the 49ers.
Minnesota has one of the most disruptive defenses in the NFL. Had the Vikings not been robbed by a bad review that uphelt Xavier McKinney's out-of-bounds interception in Green Bay, the Vikings would've won the turnover battle 4-2. Despite that, the Vikings are No. 2 in the NFL with 10 takeaways, eight of them being interceptions.
The Vikings intercepted Daniel Jones twice, Brock Purdy once, C.J. Stroud twice and Jordan Love three times. The latter three are three of the most accurate passers in the league, so even the great Aaron Rodgers isn't immune to turning the ball over against Minnesota.
It could be a tough Sunday at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for Rodgers and the Jets. If it is, you can rest assured that the tempered worry will blossom into full-blown panic in the New York tabloids.