After two straight wins at home, the Jets found the sledding considerably tougher against the Vikings on Sunday.
Their running game never got going, their receivers had issues holding onto the ball and rookie quarterback Sam Darnold was erratic while completing 17-of-42 passes for 206 yards. Three of those passes were picked off by the Vikings and that led to defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson saying that Darnold looked like a typical rookie quarterback.
Richardson also said that Darnold looked like he was uncomfortable on a cold and windy day at MetLife Stadium.
“He looked like he was cold, he looked like he was frustrated a little bit, was frustrated with playcalling, frustrated with his line a little bit. He was frustrated,” Richardson said, via the New York Post. “That’s what I can tell you. I don’t know if he’s good or bad off of that.”
Darnold didn’t play in cold weather at USC, but shrugged off concerns that it affected him on Sunday. Darnold said in his postgame press conference that he “didn’t really struggle with it at all in my opinion.” Darnold did struggle, though, and fixing the reasons why that happened will be part of the preparations for Chicago in Week Eight.