2024 NFL season, Week 5: What We Learned from Sunday's games

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• READ: 60K club: Rodgers becomes ninth player to reach career yards mark

Jeremy Bergman's takeaways:

1. Rodgers rallies Jets but comes up just short. Aaron Rodgers and the jet-lagged Jets looked lost in London for much of Sunday's proceedings. Rodgers resembled the banged-up 40-year-old he is and was a step slow on the Tottenham turf early on against a familiar opponent in Minnesota. He threw two picks in the first half -- one an awful read on a short crosser that led to an Andrew Van Ginkel pick-six and the other a lazy overthrow of his preferred target, Allen Lazard, downfield. The QB looked down for the count after getting twisted underneath a slew of Vikings defender in the third quarter -- he got checked out in the injury tent -- but valiantly returned and oversaw a comeback attempt. Rodgers leaned on his much-dissected connection with Garrett Wilson, who paced New York with 101 yards on 13 catches and 22(!) targets. Their touchdown connection with six minutes left in the game cut what was once a 17-point Minnesota lead to three. After holding the Vikings to a field goal, Rodgers led New York down just outside Minnesota's red zone with under a minute to go. But that's where Gang Green stalled. Rodgers launched two incompletions before testing Mike Williams against Stephon Gilmore down the right sideline. Williams didn't see the veteran QB's back-shoulder pass coming, but Gilmore did, securing Rodgers' third interception of the afternoon and sending New York back across the Atlantic with a third loss. Does Davante Adams await them upon their return?
2. Minnesota's magic running out? The Vikings improved to 5-0 with Sunday's nail-biting victory over the Jets, but it was their diciest duel of the season so far. An MVP candidate through four weeks, Sam Darnold was harried and harassed against his former team, completing just 14 of 31 passes for 179 yards and taking four sacks, including one right in the ribs. Darnold returned after Nick Mullens came in for one play, but wasn't the same after the knock. Also banged up was Aaron Jones, who came out of the game in the first quarter with a hip injury and never returned. Ty Chandler, Myles Gaskin and C.J. Ham didn't have nearly the same burst. The Vikings offense reached the end zone just once against New York after scoring eight times in the previous two weeks. Thankfully for Minnesota, Week 6 brings a bye and a time to reset and refuel. A win is a win, and no team will have more than Minnesota through Sunday.
3. Jets' issues with penalties persist. In New York's sloppy loss to the Broncos in Week 4, the Jets were flagged 13 times for 90 yards, many of the penalties coming before the snap. Gang Green didn't have quite the same issue overseas in Week 5 but continued to get in its own way. Tasked with having to shut down the top receiver in the league in Justin Jefferson, New York was flagged five times going up against the gritty Griddier. Pass interference, holding and illegal contact calls on Sauce Gardner and D.J. Reed led to five Minnesota first downs and kept a number of scoring drives alive. Jefferson finished with 92 receiving yards -- and 61 yards picked up via penalty. On a day when the defense was otherwise giving Minnesota fits, holding one of the top offenses in the league to 4 of 13 on third down and 3.8 yards per play, the Jets' lack of discipline in the secondary extended possessions for the Vikings and set the team back. For a coaching staff in its fourth year, it's inexcusable that persistent penalties remain a recurring narrative.

Next Gen Stats Insight for Jets-Vikings (via NFL Pro): The Jets generated pressure on 15 of the Vikings' 37 dropbacks (40.5%), sacking Sam Darnold four times in the process. Eight different players generated at least one pressure for the Jets.

NFL Research: With the Jets at 2-3, this is the first time Aaron Rodgers is under .500 through five starts since 2012 (finished 11-5, made playoffs w/ Packers).

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