No weeks off in the NFL! The 4-0 Minnesota Vikings have no time to revel in their early-season success as they face off against an old nemesis in former Green Bay Packers QB Aaron Rodgers, who will lead the New York Jets against the Vikings in a game at Tottenham Stadium in London.
The Jets enter the game 2-2 and haven’t gelled under head coach Robert Saleh’s leadership. What was supposed to be a powerful combination of great defense on one side of the ball and a Rodgers-led offense on the other has yet to yield the type of domination Jets fans were hoping for. New York ranks 22nd in the NFL in points scored. However, their defense has been solid, coming in at fifth in the league (just behind the Vikings at fourth) in team defensive points per game.
New York is a notoriously tough place to coach and play, with the non-stop scrutiny that the Big Apple media provides. The Jets are a woebegone franchise that took a risk on Rodgers opening a title window when they signed for his 18th season in the league, thinking he’d be their savior in 2023. Rodgers only played four total plays last year before rupturing his Achilles tendon. While Rodgers is an enigma off the field, on the field, he’s undoubtedly one of the best QBs ever to live.
Will the savvy veteran Rodgers be the one to solve Brian Flores’ defense?
Last week, Jordan Love stymied some of Flores’ firepower when he went to tempo on second and third downs, not allowing Flores to send his favorite personnel packages out to match the situation. Keep an eye on whether Rodgers and Co. go tempo early and often. (Rodgers is famous for catching opposing defenses with 12 men on the field.)
Nathaniel Hackett schemes up Rodgers’ offense. Together, they powered perhaps the NFL’s best offense back in 2020 and 2021, with Rodgers taking home the MVP award in both seasons. The Jets feature what is supposed to be a strong offensive line and a strong receiving group in Garrett Wilson, Mike Williams, and Allen Lazard. Breece Hall is the feature back in New York’s balanced attack, and one can expect the Jets to try to establish the run to balance with Rodgers’ ever-effective play action.
Tight end Brendan Bates has been a very effective blocker in New York’s zone schemes, showing a level of physicality on swipe blocks that is rare, even in today’s NFL. In short-yardage situations, the Jets will use 6’4″, 295 lbs. defensive lineman Solomon Thomas as a “Fridge” type blocking fullback. Last week, in a 10-9 loss to the Denver Broncos, the Jets had a first-and-goal from the one-yard line early in the first quarter, only to be stymied by Denver’s front on first- and second-down runs, then to jump offsides while going for it on fourth-and-one.
New York’s defensive coordinator is Jeff Ulbrich, who runs a highly respected defense. The Jets’ secondary will be crucial in the matchup with Minnesota’s offense. New York’s secondary features one of the best corners in the league, Sauce Gardner, and has a great all-around defensive backfield. The Jets aren’t afraid of playing man to man, which may give Minnesota’s high-powered receivers chances to break free.
The Jets play an Even front on base downs and involve their DBs in run-support, either in Cover 2 from the corners or from a version of Cover 4 with run support from the safeties, when they play zone. New York played a great deal of man-to-man in monsoon conditions last week. That might have resulted from facing Bo Nix and Denver’s passing attack, an adjustment to the conditions, or a combination of the two. Nix had a difficult time gripping the soaked NFL football on Sunday. The forecast calls for showers on Sunday, so we’ll find out if Sam Darnold can have a better grip on things than Nix did last week, where the Jets held the Broncos offense to only 12 first downs and 60 total yards passing.
Minnesota’s coaching staff has been ridiculously efficient through four games, winning their chess match with opposing coordinators in all but one half. I will have to adjust my win/loss count for the coordinators to reflect the first half in which the Vikings staff seemed to be out-coached: Flores’ second half against Green Bay.
Did Matt LeFleur and Jordan Love expose something that the Jets and Rodgers can use to their advantage on Sunday in London? Or was that more about the defense “taking their foot off the pedal” while playing with a giant lead? Will Darnold see ghosts on the field in London due to his haunted time with the Jets? Can KOC keep dealing with the issue and find the right recipe for winning sauce for the Vikings on Sunday? Can Flores re-right the ship and get the Vikings back to playing elite defense for four quarters?
We’ll find out on Sunday morning.
Coordinators tally thus far:
Halves won by coordinators thus far in 2024:
KOC: 8-0.
Flores: 7-1.
