Geno Smith and Jets Fall Short Against Vikings
MINNEAPOLIS - At the start of overtime on Sunday, Jets quarterback Geno Smith took the field with a chance at a victory that had seemed unlikely when the Minnesota Vikings intercepted his first pass of the game and returned it for a touchdown.
But the Jets came up short in many ways in a 30-24 loss at a chilly TCF Bank Stadium, and what happened on that first overtime series was as critical as any of them. Smith completed a 26-yard pass to Eric Decker for a first down at the Minnesota 47-yard line, but the Jets picked up only 4 yards on their next three plays and punted. After the Vikings took over, on a third-and-5 from their 13, Jarius Wright turned a short pass from quarterback Teddy Bridgewater into a winning 87-yard touchdown.
Wright caught the ball behind the line of scrimmage while two other receivers crossed in front of him, confusing defenders. Wright escaped an attempted tackle by safety Jaiquawn Jarrett and ran untouched down the right sideline.
It seemed a harsh ending to a game that the Jets (2-11) had tied in the final minute of regulation. The Vikings had taken a 24-21 lead on a 20-yard Blair Walsh field goal with 5 minutes 28 seconds to play. In the final three minutes, though, Smith maneuvered the Jets into position for a 44-yarder by Nick Folk with 23 seconds left in regulation, his fifth field goal of the game. A 56-yard attempt by Walsh on Minnesota's final play fell well short.
Between a drive late in the second quarter and one early in the fourth, the Jets drove inside the Minnesota 20 four times without finding the end zone. They fumbled once, and three times came away with a field goal by Folk, who is apparently over the hip flexor injury that contributed to two significant misses in a loss to Miami last Monday night.
The Vikings led by 21-15 after an odd but entertaining first half. It began with Smith throwing the interception for a touchdown on his first snap - the eighth time in his short career that a defender had picked off a pass and returned it for a score - and ended with the Jets managing to score 3 points on two drives inside the Vikings' 20.
Although the Jets, who mostly ran the ball in their 16-13 loss to Miami, were facing a Vikings defense that had surrendered at least 122 rushing yards in each of its the last four games, Smith dropped back on that opening play and looked for Percy Harvin on a slant.
The backup linebacker Gerald Hodges, replacing the injured Vikings rookie Anthony Barr (knee), reached backward, tipped the ball back to himself and returned it 27 yards for a touchdown. Twelve seconds into the game, the Jets were already behind.
Sheldon Richardson sacked Bridgewater for a safety on Minnesota's first possession, and the Jets jumped ahead on a 35-yard touchdown pass from Smith to Harvin, a former Viking. Harvin, who was booed relentlessly all day, celebrated the score - his first receiving touchdown since Oct. 25, 2012 - by walking toward the stands with his arms aloft and flipping the ball to a man in a Vikings jersey.
Bridgewater, who has been criticized this year for his inaccuracy on long passes, then found Charles Johnson deep down the right sideline for a 56-yard touchdown. The Jets closed the gap to 14-12 on a 36-yard field goal, but when Johnson fumbled after a catch short of the goal line early in the second quarter, fullback Jerome Felton beat two Jets to the loose ball in the end zone for a touchdown and a 21-12 Vikings lead.
A 33-yard field goal was all the Jets could muster on their final two possessions of the half, the first ending with Chris Ivory losing a fumble at the Vikings' 1-yard line.
Minnesota gave the Jets another opportunity when Cordarrelle Patterson fumbled while running back the second half kickoff and the Jets' T. J. Graham recovered at the Vikings' 26. But tight end Jeff Cumberland, in traffic, could not pull down a less-than-perfect pass from Smith in the end zone, and Folk was left to kick another field goal, a 22-yarder.
Another field goal by Folk early in the fourth quarter made it 21-21. Before Folk's last kick, Walsh pushed a 39-yard attempt to the right, only his third miss in 50 career attempts from less than 40 yards.
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