Game 20: Vikings 37, Jets 20

For Fox's coverage of Vikings-Jets, we immediately go to fast-forward, because the less of the Ragin' Retard, the better.

Jets start with the ball. Chad Greenway blows up a Jet screen on 2nd down. Vikings having a tough
time not biting on Pennington's hard counts. Pennington scrambles 16 to the 35 on 3rd-and-4. Two plays later, Pennington inexplicably throws it DIRECTLY TO Darren Sharper for a 42-yard pick-6. 7-0, Vikings. Sharper must have been hiding in the weeds, as they say. CRUSHING block by Kevin Williams on D'Brickashaw Ferguson during the INT return.

Brad Smith returns the kickoff across the 35. Jets ran on the first 16 plays last week but are
getting nowhere tonight. Until Leon Washington breaks a run for 13 down to the Minn. 16. The Jets are in no-huddle, and quick snap to catch the Vikings with 12 on the field, which is a lost art in the
NFL these days. Jets get down to the 1 but settle for a FG. Jerricho Cotchery gets penalized with a dubious application of the new spike/delay-of-game rule. Pennington's 3rd down fade pass for Brad Smith is nowhere close. Nugent makes it 7-3.

5:45 left in the first, and the Viking offense is on the field for the first time. They don't stay
there long. Bobby Wade's drop on 3rd down puts Minnesota 3-and-out.

Under pressure on 2nd-and-16, Pennington throws a TERRIBLE pass into the flat, a lollipop that
Greenway picks off easily and returns for a TD. Minnesota has had the ball 58 seconds, has no
first downs, and they're leading 14-3. Pennington is making some absolutely TERRIBLE decisions
out there and is playing nothing like a veteran QB.

Wallace Wright returns the kickoff across the 40, and a couple of Leon Washington runs get the Jets
down to the 25. Perhaps unable to trust Pennington, this drive is all runs. Jets face a 3rd-and-8 inside the 20 as the first quarter runs out.

And the call is a handoff to Washington again. Troy Aikman claims the Jets want to practice their
FG attempts. That is the most idiotic thing I have ever heard. Congratulations, Troy. Nugent hits
his practice FG to make it 14-6.

Raymond Ventrone becoming a special teams hero for the Jets, POPPING Aundrae Allison inside the 20 on the kickoff return. Adrian Peterson starts with the run of the postseason. Running right, he humiliates Andre Dyson with a spin move, breaks outside up the sideline and bashes David Barrett on the way out of bounds. 43-yard gain. Chester Taylor then follows with a 12-yard run left. Tarvaris Jackson to Sidney Rice inside the 10. Peterson powers it in from the 3 and gives Minnesota a 21-6 lead.

Another nice kick return by Brad Smith. Kellen Clemens is the new Jets QB, and they trust him to
throw right off the bat. Do we have a QB controversy brewing in NY? Ray Edwards continues to have a huge preseason, blowing up a screen to Washington. DRAW PLAY on 3rd-14, and Minnesota is all over it. 1-2-3-kick for the imploding Jets.

Bollinger in for Minnesota even though Jackson was barely in long enough to warm the seat. The Vikings convert on 3rd down, but Shaun Ellis scored a sack/fumble/recovery on a 3rd-and-8 to give the Jets the ball on Minnesota's side of the field.

The Jets look like they're dead again - 3rd-and-10 from the Minn 35 - but Justin McCareins makes
THREE Viking DBs look ABSOLUTELY STUPID en route to a 35-yard TD. He spins away from a poor tackle by Cedric Wilson, made Dwight Smith look like an ASS with a juke, and cut back inside Sharper overrunning it badly. Minnesota wasn't one of the league's worst pass defenses last year for nothin'. 21-13 Vikings.

On 3rd-and-15, Minnesota screens to Taylor for 18. 2:00 warning. Bollinger scrambles for about 10 on 3rd-and-2. Ellis' big 1st half continues with another sack. The Vikes have to hurry the FG team
on to the field with time expiring, and Longwell calmly strokes a 54-yard FG to make it 24-13.

Drew Henson QBing to start the 3rd for Minnesota. Mewelde Moore at TB. Brad Childress' wife used
to babysit Drew Henson? Good grief, how much nepotism is enough with some NFL coaches? Minnesota mostly grinding it out on the ground, including a 4th-and-inches their side of midfield they
barely make. They don't get any farther than that, though, and punt to pin NY inside the 10.

One step forward, two steps back for the Jets. Robison smokes LT #79 to slap the ball out of
Clemens' hand for a fumble. Next play, Pete Kendall, not usually the Jet center, snaps the shotgun
snap a mile over Clemens' head. Clemens makes a play on the bouncing ball worthy of Bill Buckner,
and Robison, who's having a hell of a preseason, scoops it at the goal line and scores with it.
31-13 Vikings. Three defensive TDs.

The Jets turn it over AGAIN, Clemens' 3rd-and-3 pass is tipped away from Chancey Stuckey by Gordon and fielded by Edwards with a diving catch. They take over at the Jet 40. They drive inside the 10 but settle for a Longwell FG when Billy McMullen can't keep his feet in bounds. 34-13 Minnesota.

Brad Smith in as Jets QB. Runs for 9 on 3rd-and-5. He starts the 4th quarter by hitting Sean Ryan
for another 1st down, at midfield. Danny Ware starts gashing the Vikings now with several rushes
of 6-8 yards. Smith hits Ryan with a short but really hard-thrown pass for 5. But Kendall fires
another bad shotgun snap - this one low and outside - on 4th down and Minnesota takes over on downs.

Tyler Thigpen and Artose Pinner now in the Viking backfield. Pinner starts by ripping off a 15-yarder. Thigpen tries to run for it on 3rd-and-13 but is well short.

Jet backfield is now Marques Tuiasosopo and Tony Hollings. New center, too, Wade Smith. Marques
puts together a nice drive, hitting Hollings for a first down on 4th-and-8 across midfield, then
throwing a nice strike to TE Jason Pociask for a 23-yd TD. 34-20.

Par for the course for the Jets tonight, Martin Nance fields the onside kick attempt and returns it to the Jet 15 with 2:00 left. The Vikings chip in a FG and bury Tuiasosopo on the last play of the
game to close out a 37-20 victory.

Minnesota's defense continues to impress. Good to see Chad Greenway rebounding so well after losing last year to injury. Robison continues to play like a monster at DE. Not to mention Peterson's already making highlight reel runs out there.

On the other hand, this was the worst kind of preseason game for the Jets, raising far more doubts than good points. Pennington played so stupidly Brian Schottenheimer quit trusting him to pass. A Mangenius team shouldn't be turning over the ball the way they did. Shaun Ellis is having a super preseason, and I love seeing Brad Smith work the "Slash" position, but they'd better hope Pennington gets his mind right in a hurry.

20 down, 45 to go. Next game: Titans-Patriots.