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With Week 4 of the NFL season in the rearview mirror, it is time to dive into the Week 5 slate of NFL games. We have our first overseas matchup of the season. The New York Jets and Minnesota Vikings will travel to London to square off. Do not forget, this game kicks off at 9:30 AM ET.
So, let’s dive into our Jets @ Vikings NFL picks and break down this Sunday morning matchup in London.
It was an ugly day on the field for this Jets team. It was a rainy day at the meadowlands, and it showed in the score, with the Jets losing 10-9. The Jets kicker Greg Zuuerlein had a chance to take the lead with 50 seconds left with a 50-yard field goal, and he missed.
The Jets offense just could not get going all day long. They had a dink-and-dunk game plan, leading to Aaron Rodgers going 24-42 for 225 yards. That is an average of just 5.4 yards per catch.
The Broncos defense also did a good job of taking running back Breece Hall out of the game. Hall is the best player on this Jets offense, and he saw 10 carries for just four yards while also catching two passes for just 14 yards. It was Hall’s running mate, Braelon Allen, who got going to an extent by rushing eight times for 34 yards. It will be interesting to see how running back carries will continue to be split between the two.
One plus side of this Jets game was how their defense controlled this game, allowing just 10 points. They did allow the Broncos to rush for 126 yards on 31 carries, which seems to be the Jets Achilles heel on defense. The pass defense was great, holding Bo Nix to just 60 yards passing. At one point, Nix had negative yards with eight completions.
The Minnesota Vikings could be the biggest surprise in the NFL. They went to 4-0 after going into Lambeau Field and taking down the Green Bay Packers 31-29. The score was much closer than the game was, as the Vikings led 28-0 in the first half.
Sam Darnold continued his mid-career resurgence, going 20-28 for 275 yards, three touchdowns and one interception. Darnold looks fantastic thus far this season in the Kevin O’Connell system, throwing for 11 touchdowns to just three interceptions. The former first-overall pick of the NFL Draft may have found his home in Minnesota after bouncing around to three other teams.
Darnold has done a great job using his weapons all season and in this game. Justin Jefferson caught six balls for 85 yards and a touchdown. Jordan Addison returned from injury to catch a 29-yard touchdown pass from Darnold, and Addison got the ball on an end around to score his second TD of the game.
The Minnesota defense continued to give opposing quarterbacks fits. Packers QB Jordan Love came back from a sprained MCL, and the Vikings intercepted him three times. For this Vikings defense, it hasn’t mattered who the quarterback was on the opposing team because they are shutting them down.
It feels as though every time we get a game overseas, it turns into an offensive struggle. We had three London games in the NFL last season, and there were 40 or fewer total points scored in two of the three games, with the game that went over scoring 45 points.
It’s an interesting matchup between these two teams. The strength of this Vikings offense has been the passing game this season. However, the Jets defense has been good against the pass this season, allowing the fourth-fewest passing yards and second-fewest touchdown passes.
The Jets offense is coming off a game in which they struggled to score just nine points against the Broncos, and it doesn’t get any easier taking on the Vikings. The Vikings defense has the most sacks in the NFL this season with 17 and has forced eight interceptions so we expect these two teams to score fewer than 42 combined points.
Dylan has had a love for sports since he was a kid. Four years ago, he decided to dive into the sports content-creating industry specializing in Fantasy Football, NFL and NBA. He has since had his work published on sites that include Fantasy Alarm, Fansided, and Fantasy Six Pack.