Thielen Noah Fant Jersey , one of 10 failures to move the chains out of 11 third-down plays for Minnesota, two of the team’s best players engaged in an animated and heated discussion on the sideline as the Vikings frustratingly settled for a field goal right before halftime.A duo that connected on 113 passes for 1,373 yards and nine touchdowns in its first year together was struggling, again, in a late-season game to get in sync.The Vikings never found their rhythm, again, against that daunting Chicago defense. The latest flop by this expensive and decorated offense sealed their fate as a team that didn’t make the playoffs, following a 24-10 defeat by the Bears on Sunday.“I love our group of guys, and we weren’t ready for it to end,” Cousins said, “but unfortunately it’s over for this year.”The Vikings (8-7-1) punted on their first five possessions, finally getting a first down with six minutes remaining in the first half. They finished with a season-low 164 yards and took four sacks. For the third time in five December games, against playoff-bound New England http://www.denverbroncosteamonline.com/dalton-risner-jersey , Seattle and Chicago, the Vikings had just one touchdown.Cousins, who signed an $84 million, three-year, fully guaranteed contract after leaving Washington as a free agent, finished with a career-high 30 touchdown passes and a career-best 70.1 completion percentage. He passed for 4,298 yards, topping the 4,000-yard mark for a fourth straight season.Considering the situation he entered, though, after the Vikings reached the NFC championship game a year ago, the overall assessment of his debut in purple will lean toward disappointment. The only team the Vikings beat this season that made the playoffs was Philadelphia, which ironically leapfrogged them on the last day with a 24-0 win over the Redskins.“I don’t have a menu in front of me of all the tough losses Drew Lock Jersey ,” Cousins said. “I’ll tell you it’s not the first. It won’t be the last. It’s a part of the journey. You play in this league long enough, you’re going to get kicked in the teeth. It’s going to happen. Tough times don’t last. Tough people do, right? I have a lot of intestinal fortitude.”The Vikings didn’t exhibit much of that until their drive late in the second quarter, after falling behind 13-0.Cousins went deep down the middle for Thielen on third-and-5, when a facemask penalty by Deon Bush on Thielen during the incompletion gave the Vikings the ball at the Chicago 31. Dalvin Cook dropped a short second-down throw, when Cousins and Cook had a miscommunication about the path of the route and the timing of the pass. Then on third-and-6, Cousins threw toward the sideline. The ball hit the turf at the 6, after Thielen had widened his route behind Kyle Fuller in attempt to reach the front corner of the end zone.A few seconds later, the TV cameras captured Thielen yelling at Cousins on the sideline. Cousins shouted back, “Hey, I don’t have 10 seconds!” Then once Thielen was calmer, Cousins was seen acting out how he expected Thielen to adjust his route in order to get open for the ball.“Adam’s my guy. He’s the best, and I want to have more of those conversations http://www.denverbroncosteamonline.com/dre_mont-jones-jersey ,” Cousins said. “I actually liked the passion back and forth.”Thielen agreed.“It definitely wasn’t anything with Kirk,” Thielen said, “and it actually turned out to be a really good conversation. We talked a lot about what I could have done better and on what we could have done in the second half to exploit their defense.”Though Thielen and Diggs became just the seventh pair of teammates to each post 100-plus receptions in the same season, the Vikings finished in the bottom half of the league in far too many statistical categories.“That’s something we were trying to find the entire year, what this offense is and how we can be successful,” Thielen said. “There were glimpses of it this entire season, but you have to be consistent in this league. Individually I wasn’t consistent, and this offense wasn’t consistent enough to win.” NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Marcus Mariota and the Tennessee Titans could not have started much uglier.They sure showed they can finish.Mariota threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Corey Davis with 36 seconds left, and the Tennessee Titans rallied from a 16-point deficit and beat the New York Jets 26-22 on Sunday.Article continues below ...The Titans (6-6) snapped a two-game skid to keep themselves on the fringes of the AFC playoff chase. Mariota, who had an interception returned for a touchdown in the first quarter, notched the 12th game-winning drive of his career and eighth since the start of the 2017 season.“Marcus isn’t going to be the guy giving pep talks,” Titans coach Mike Vrabel said of his quarterback. “He’s very calm T.J. Hockenson Jersey , cool, collected. He takes control of the huddle, and you can see him in the most critical situations he’s at his best. And so that’s great to see.”The Jets (3-9) had one last chance to snap their own losing streak, but Malcolm Butler intercepted Josh McCown’s pass with 21 seconds left to seal Tennessee’s victory and the Jets’ collapse. New York now has lost six straight with this latest loss leaving Jets coach Todd Bowles “fuming.”“Dumb mistakes at dumb times cost us ballgames, and that’s why we’re in the position we’re in,” Bowles said.Mariota looked nothing like the quarterback who turned in the second-best single-game performance in NFL history last week completing 95.7 percent of his passes in a loss at Houston. Home fans booed early and often as Jets cornerback Trumaine Johnson got only his second interception this season and ran it back 31 yards for an early TD and a 10-0 lead.It was the Jets’ first takeaway after the franchise tied a league record for futility for not forcing a turnover in five straight games. The Jets also sacked Mariota three times.Mariota threw for 220 of his 282 yards in the second half. He also led the Titans with 43 yards rushing, including a 25-yard scramble on the game-winning drive where he recovered his own fumble at the end.“Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good, and I got lucky,” Mariota said.A facemask penalty on Johnson during the play added to the end, and Mariota hit Anthony Firkser for 25 yards. Three plays later, he found Davis who ran in for the TD and the Titans’ first lead of the game.McCown started his third straight with Sam Darnold still limited with an injured foot, and the 39-year-old veteran threw for only 128 yards as the Titans outgained the Jets 403-280 in total offense.New York led 22-13 on Jason Myers‘ fifth and final field goal, a 39-yarder with 26 seconds left in the third quarter.“You can’t do that Justice Hill Jersey ,” McCown said. “You’ve got to get seven points when you’re down there, and we didn’t do that. And yeah, if you do that too much in the NFL, it will come back to get you, and it certainly did us today.”The Titans had their chances to avoid the dramatic ending with first-and-goal on back-to-back drives in the fourth quarter only to settle for a pair of field goals by Ryan Succop. The Titans forced the Jets to punt with 1:46 left and found themselves starting at their own 14 to set up the game-winning drive.SPECIAL INDEEDThe Jets got production from across the board on special teams. Kevin Pierre-Louis blocked a punt in the second quarter to set up Myers’ third field goal, and Henry Anderson blocked Succop’s extra-point attempt inside the final minute of the first half. Andre Roberts opened the third quarter with a 61-yard kickoff return.FLAG FESTThe Jets were flagged 11 times for 96 yards, including three times on the Titans’ final drive with one offsetting. The Titans, who came in as the NFL’s least penalized team, had eight for 75 yards.INJURIESJets O-lineman Spencer Long had an illness, so Dakota Dozier started at LG in his place. … Jets cornerback Morris Claiborne hurt a shoulder, but returned.UP NEXTJets: Visit Buffalo next Sunday.Titans: Host Jacksonville on Thursday night.
