Throughout the season, NewYorkJets.com will provide a stock report focusing on the Jets' upcoming matchup.
This week's report features players and/or themes that are trending before the Green & White take on the Minnesota Vikings in London Sunday at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
📈 Jets Pass Defense
The Jets' pass defense ranks No. 2 in the NFL, allowing an average of 128 yards per game. The unit, which ranked No. 2 at the end of last season, held Broncos QB Bo Nix to 60 yards when he completed 48% of his passes (12 of 25).
Vikings QB Sam Darnold, who leads the NFL with 11 touchdown passes, has thrown for at least 2 TDs in each of the first four games, but the Jets have allowed only 2 passing touchdowns this season.
"Shoutout to the D-line getting a hitch on the quarterback, getting pressure," CB Michael Carter II said. "Then on the back end, just trusting our technique and coverage, making sure we're tight and sticky like we always are as far as being aggressive and getting hands on. That's kind of how we play.
"I think just staying true to our identity as a unit and making sure we stay true to that."
📈 WR Mike Williams
Jets WR Mike Williams continues to ascend. He played a season-high 43 snaps in Week 4 as he works his way back from his ACL injury, which he sustained last season against the Vikings. He led the Green & White with 67 yards against the Broncos on 4 catches.
"These last few weeks I have been building up and getting better every week," Williams said. "I have been trying to take advantage of every opportunity I get. When the ball comes my way, I make a play. I am excited for my role to keep growing and make plays."
See the Jets back on the practice field to kickoff Week 5 in preparation for the game against the Vikings in London.
📉 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."
