New York Jets beat the Minnesota Vikings (Part Two)
The first quarter of Monday nights Minnesota Vikings against the New York Jets game was mostly quiet. The only score that came off it was a 10th minute field goal from the Jets. New York started the second quarter on
the offensive but their drive was unable to produce results. In fact none of the next three drives of the quarter advanced 10 yards even. The Vikings covered six yards in their first offensive drive before the punt, the Jets lost yards instead of gaining any
and the Vikings on the second time out gained just 2 yards. Suffice to say that things were slow in the start.
The Jets were first to score in the second period. Sanchez led the Jets up from their 32 yard line to Minnesota’s 36 yard line in 3 plays but got stuck behind the 35 for the next four plays. The possibility of a touchdown quickly
faded away but Nick Folk was still able to salvage the drive with an impressive 53 yard field goal. The Jets now led 6 against nothing with 5 minutes remaining in the second quarter.
Favre had so far been unable to get any success and his fate wouldn’t change just yet. He was sacked in the first play of the next drive but a facemask penalty overruled the play. Two plays later Favre made another mistake, this
one proving to be particularly costly. Favre fumbled the ball out on the line of scrimmage and the loose ball ended up being recovered by Bart Scott for the New York Jets. In the NFL and with a professional like Favre one simply does not expect to see mistakes
like these and when they do happen, there is a price to pay.
The fumble gave the Jets possession of the ball and set them up for their third field goal of the game. Sanchez leading, the offense was still barely managing to hold on. Sanchez made slow progress but kept moving forward on the
downs. On the third play Sanchez passed 8 yards, on the sixth he passed 14 yards and so on to get to the red zone. Sanchez ended up getting stuck on the four yard line. In 3 consecutive plays Sanchez tried to pass and each time he failed. In the end the Jets
had to attempt the field goal. The attempt was good. The goal came with just 20 seconds remaining on the clock.
Favre took the knee after the kick from New York to end the quarter. The Scores stood at 9 against nothing by the end of the second quarter.
The first signs of a comeback for the Vikings were seen when the 3rd quarter began. Minnesota’s defence welcomed Sanchez back on the field with a 10 yard sack on the very first play. Sanchez faked a handoff but Ray Edwards
was able to see through it. New York’s offensive line didn’t even bother with Edwards and he had a clear path to the quarterback. The sack put the Jets on 2nd and 22. Sanchez gained a yard and lost 3 in the next two play and then got into punt formation.
The 53 yard punt was returned for 22 yard to put the Vikings on New York’s 49 yard line.
Favre again made the same mistake as before. He took a clean snap but as he was about to hand over the ball to running back Adrian Peterson, the ball just slipped out of his hands. As Peterson was rushing in, he accidently kicked
the ball forward into the line of scrimmage. The loose ball got kicked around before being recovered by cornerback Darrelle Revis for New York. Revis took the ball right and then up the field as he dodged one Viking after the other before finally being stopped
on Minnesota’s 46 yard line.
In the first 2 quarters of the game the Jets had little luck with passing so they tried to focus on the rushing this time around. Shonn Greene headed up the rush for New York and started the drive with consecutive 2, 9 and 8 yard
rushes. Tomlinson followed it up with up with 4, 5 and 2 yard rushes to take the Vikings up to the 18 yard line in 6 plays. Sanchez took over but after a failed pass attempt the Jets got into field goal formation. The fourth field goal attempt was good and
the Jets moved into a 12 – 0 lead over the Vikings. Minnesota now had just under 24 minutes to get their game back on track.
Favre’s comeback into the game though wouldn’t come just yet. Minnesota returned a 70 yard kick for 18 yards to begin the drive on the 18 yard line. However they couldn’t get to the 28 yard line in three plays and took the punt
to avoid a turnover so close to the red zone. After the punt the Jets began on the 23 yard line. Being only able to make it up to the 25 yard line 3 plays, New York also took the punt.
Minnesota’s comeback into the game was eminent.
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