The Minnesota Vikings defeated the New York Jets, 23-17 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London and improved to 5-0 for the first time since 2016.
Since 2019, eight of the nine NFL regular-season games played at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium have been decided by one score (eight points or fewer).
The opening quarter saw the game favourites, Minnesota Vikings, take an early lead through Reichard. The kicker slotted over a 54-yard field goal, to give his side, the designated home team, a three nil advantage.
Just as the Jets seemed to be gaining territorially, linebacker Van Ginkel intercepted for the Minnesota franchise, and returned 63 yards to touchdown for the game’s opening five-pointer.
Along with his three sacks this season and an interception-return for a touchdown in Week 1, Van Ginkel becomes the first player in NFL history with at least three sacks and two interception-return touchdowns in his team’s first five games of a season.
With Reichard again successful with his extra-point effort, his side had a 10-0 lead at the end of quarter one.
Vikings’ Ham rushed over from 2 yards with 3.50 to play before the half-time break, and with Reichard again adding the extra point, Kevin O’Connell’s side extended their lead to 17-0.
Jets finally score
The Jets finally got on the scoreboard on the cusp of the interval when Lazard caught for a 14-yard score. Zuerlein successfully kicked the point to leave the score 7-17 in favour of the Vikings at the break.
Zuerlein’s 32-yard field goal attempt before the end of the third quarter narrowed the gap to just seven points, in a game for so long seemed to be edging away from the Jets.
Reichard continued in his rich vein of kicking form when scoring a 53-yard field with 12.07 remaining in the final quarter.
With a little over six minutes remaining in the game, Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers’ short pass was complete to Wilson who went in from one yard to increase the anxiety in the Vikings’ camp. Zuerlein’s extra point was good, creating a three-point game.
With 3.07 to play Reichard’s 41-yard field goal attempt ended any hope the NY Jets and their many fans in London had of taking a shock victory, as the Minnesota Vikings held out for a 23-17 London success and are now 4-0 in regular-season international games, the most wins without a loss among all teams in international games.
On what was a bad day at the office for losing New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers, he passed for 244 yards and has 60,148 career regular-season passing yards, becoming the ninth player with at least 60,000 regular-season passing yards in NFL history.
