Bent, theJetsBlog.com Follow on Twitter

In Sunday's frustrating loss to the Vikings, the Jets struggled to adapt to the windy conditions, especially in the second half. The Vikings were able to exploit some costly mistakes to win by a flattering 20-point margin.

Let's take a look at three of the best and three of the worst performances...

Winners

TE Chris Herndon

The rookie Herndon is starting to deliver on his potential over the past few games, and was one of the Jets' most effective offensive players on Sunday. He scored the first touchdown for Gang Green, and set up the other with a catch down to the goal line.

Herndon ended up with four catches for 42 yards. While he's still an inconsistent blocker, his ability to line up out wide or in the slot whil producing in the passing game is valuable, especially with all the injuries at wide receiver.

DL Nathan Shepherd

Another rookie, Shepherd has made gradual progress over the course of the season, although his playing time has been up and down. Each week, he seems to show more evidence that he's figuring out ways to get off blocks at the pro level and start to impact upon offensive plays.

In this game, Shepherd got into the backfield a few times to blow up some plays and, although he was only officially credited with one tackle, helped to bottle up a few run stuffs and drew a holding penalty to negate a 10-yard run. He also recorded his first official quarterback hit on a stunt, and registered another pressure by beating his man.

RB Trenton Cannon

Herndon and Shepherd were not the only rookies to have their best game so far on Sunday, as Cannon's six touches generated 73 yards. While most of these plays came in garbage time, he had the biggest play of the first half when he blew past Eric Kendricks on a wheel route for a 35-yard catch over the top.

Cannon's contributions weren't just limited to offense. He was repeatedly the first man downfield in punt coverage and had two special teams tackles. While he was penalized once for running out of bounds, Cannon is starting to showcase his athleticism and could yet develop into a useful asset for this team, as Elijah McGuire is due to return soon to challenge him for playing time.

Losers

RB Isaiah Crowell

When Bilal Powell departed with a neck injury, the onus was on the banged-up Crowell to carry the load, but he didn't have much success. Crowell was held to 29 yards on 11 carries, nine of which were stopped for three yards or less. That marks the fifth out of seven games where he's failed to surpass 40 yards.

Crowell also had a bad drop on an open pass in the flat, gave up a sack in pass protection, and fumbled a handoff for a costly turnover.

C Spencer Long

Unfortuately, Long is becoming a fixture on this list, as he once again had serious issues with bad snaps. During the week, Todd Bowles implied that this issue has been affected by Long's injuries. In this game, one of his bad snaps led to a turnover and Darnold had to fall on the ball for a loss on another.

Long also had a holding penalty and allowed too much penetration in the running game with the Jets averaging less than three yards per carry. He was also shoved back into Darnold a couple of times in pass protection.

WR/RS Andre Roberts

Roberts made some positive contributions in this game, as he had some good returns including a 54-yarder. However, a series of errors in the return game cost the Jets valuable field position at a time when the game was still very much in the balance.

With the Vikings punting from the back of their endzone, the Jets should have had the ball somewhere near midfield. But Roberts misjudged the punt in blustery conditions, missing his catch completely and allowing the ball to roll back near the Jets' 30. Then, in the second quarter, he was indecisive with the ball in the air and made a late decision to try and fair catch the ball inside the 20. He muffed the catch and was lucky to be able to recover it. He later misjudged another punt and it rolled another 20 yards down to the 10-yard line.

Roberts' struggles weren't limited to fielding punts, though. He also fumbled the ball out of bounds on a kickoff return and, other than a 20-yard garbage time catch, his five other targets in the passing game generated just one catch for one yard.

Popular in the Community