NFL
📈 Stock Report | Jets Pass Defense Ranks No. 2 in NFLÂ
📉 Vikings Pass Defense
Minnesota’s defense is an interesting unit, statistically. It ranks No. 2 against the run and in takeaways, but ranks No. 32 against the pass, allowing an average of 274.3 yards per game.
The secondary is led by 13-year-veteran S Harrison Smith, drafted in the first round out of Notre Dame in 2013.
Aaron Rodgers, who is 96 yards shy of becoming the ninth quarterback in NFL history to reach 60,000 passing yards, has not faced Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores as a coordinator or head coach.
Rodgers’ 57-8 TD-INT ratio vs. the Vikings is the best by any QB against one opponent since 1970. His 7,157 passing yards against Minnesota is his most against any opponent in his 20-year-career. Note that Rodgers faced the Vikings twice a season when he played for the Packers.
“That’s a very smart group,” HC Robert Saleh said Wednesday, referring to the Vikings. “They know Flores’ system very well obviously. They’re executing at a high level, their ball disruption is as good as any team in football. The windows are tight, their edge rushers are high effort game wreckers — [Andrew] Van Ginkel and [Jonathan] Greenard. It’s a really good group of guys. You’re not going to look at the roster and recognize a lot of names, but they’ve played well together.”
📉 Jets Running Game
The Jets ran for a season-low 64 yards in last Sunday’s loss to the Broncos and averaged 2.8 yards per carry. Braelon Allen led the Green & White with 34 rushing yards and Breece Hall ran for a career-low 4 yards.
The offense has run for a combined 234 yards (117 avg) in its wins and 132 in its losses (66 avg).
“Last week we weren’t able to establish that run game, they were bringing pressure and we weren’t able to actually run the ball to get them out of it,” C Joe Tippmann said. “This week, it’s just big on communication, communicate what we see. If they’re bringing the pressure, the different ways that we can kind of attack it while we’re up at the line. You don’t want to get out of every single call, you want to be able to kind of scare them out of it. That’s one of the big messages.”