Mike Zimmer gathered his team around him in a victorious lock

EAST RUTHERFORD Irv Smith Jersey nfl draft , N.J. (AP) —er room and let them in on what they just accomplished.The Minnesota Vikings, he told them, had never defeated the Jets on the road — until Sunday. Kirk Cousins and the rest of his teammates broke out in big cheers to celebrate a 37-17 win.“Winning on the road is important in this league,” Cousins said, “and I was glad we were able to do that.”Cousins threw two touchdown passes, Latavius Murray ran for two scores, and the Vikings (4-2-1) pulled away in the second half for their third straight victory.It wasn’t the best performance of the season by the Vikings’ high-powered offense, but it was certainly good enough against a Jets team that had four turnovers — including interceptions by Harrison Smith, Holton Hill and Trae Waynes.“Any time you score 37 points on the road, you’re doing something right,” Cousins said. “But there are times where it wasn’t good enough. We are so grateful for defense and special teams today because it gave us the opportunity to go out and score points.”Vikings wide receiver Adam Thielen became the fifth player in NFL history to get at least 100 yards receiving in seven consecutive games, catching nine passes for 110 yards and a touchdown.Murray, coming off career-high 155 yards rushing against Arizona, finished with 69 yards on 15 carries to help lift the Vikings to their first road win against the Jets after losing the first five meetings away from home.In his first game against the Jets (3-4) since spurning their massive offer in free agency, Cousins was far from spectacular but made some big plays late. With the game still hanging in the balance and the Vikings facing fourth-and-8 from the 34, Cousins connected with Aldrick Robinson for a TD to seal it.Cousins, 25 of 40 for 241 yards, opted to turn down New York’s three-year, $90 million deal in the offseason and instead chose to go to Minnesota, which actually signed him to a deal worth $6 million less. The Jets insisted this loss didn’t sting any more than usual because it was against Cousins.“We don’t care,” Jets linebacker Darron Lee said. “We only care about us and this team. Don’t try to make this about him. We don’t care. No one ever spoke about that all week. No one cared.”After Cousins made his decision, the Jets turned their attention to the draft, where they selected Sam Darnold with the No. 3 overall pick.In their first meeting, Cousins came out on top — while Darnold struggled on a cold, windy day.The rookie was 17 of 42 for 206 yards with a TD pass to Chris Herndon and a TD run, but was intercepted three times as New York’s two-game winning streak ended.“I’ve just got to find completions Everson Griffen Jersey ,” Darnold said. “That’s really it. And, we’ve got to do a better job executing.”The Vikings took a 17-point lead early in the fourth quarter when Murray followed a 23-yard run with a 38-yard touchdown scamper, his second score of the game .“It wasn’t pretty early on,” Murray said, “but we know how important it is to run the ball and we stuck with it.”New York wasn’t done, though.Darnold’s 17-yard throw to Herndon was initially called a touchdown, but it was ruled after a video review that the tight end’s heel went out of bounds at the 1. Darnold went in on a quarterback sneak on the next play for the first rushing score of his career, making it 27-17.After the Vikings went three-and-out, Darnold went deep to Robby Anderson, whose legs got tangled with Xavier Rhodes and both needed to be checked by trainers. Anderson was OK, but Rhodes was helped off the field without putting weight on his left leg. Zimmer said Rhodes has a sprained ankle.Hill came on in place of Rhodes and immediately picked off Darnold’s pass intended for Andre Roberts. Seven plays later, Cousins put the game away with his TD toss to Robinson.“We had so many opportunities to put that game away earlier,” Zimmer said. “There were two or three turnovers we didn’t take advantage of. … We’ve got to overcome ourselves on some of those things.”THIELEN FEELIN’ ITThielen reached his milestone with a 21-yard catch in the fourth quarter. He joined Detroit’s Calvin Johnson (eight, 2012), Denver’s Demaryius Thomas (seven, 2014), Dallas’ Michael Irvin (seven, 1995) and Houston’s Charley Hennigan (seven, 1961) to accomplish the feat.He and Hennigan are the only players to do so in his team’s first seven games to open the season.“It says it all,” Cousins said. “He’s a great player. Ultimately, he’s a great person and it starts there the way he approaches everything he does. I’m lucky to play with him. The Vikings are lucky to have him.”THIRD-DOWN STRUGGLESMinnesota finished 2 of 15 on third downs, while New York was 2 of 13.The Vikings first conversion didn’t come until midway through the third quarter on Thielen’s 13-yard catch after being 0 for 8 up to that point.The Jets’ first third-down conversion came late in the third on Darnold’s 6-yard run on third-and-5.INJURIESVikings: LG Tom Compton left in the first quarter with a knee injury and didn’t return. … LB Anthony Barr left in the fourth with a hamstring injury.Jets: RB Bilal Powell injured his neck during a 2-yard run in the second quarter. S Doug Middleton, starting in place of the injured Marcus Maye, also left in the second with a shoulder injury. Neither player returned, and coach Todd Bowles said both would have tests to determine the severity of their injuries.UP NEXTVikings: home vs. New Orleans next Sunday.Jets: at Chicago next Sunday. Why the way the Vikings have handled the offseason makes sense"WhiteFanposts Fanshots Sections Vikings 2018 SeasonVikings 2019 OffseasonU.S. Bank StadiumMinnesota Vikings PodcastsMinnesota Vikings 2019 OffseasonThe Vikings and lower-tier free agentsNew,48commentsWhy the way the Vikings have handled the offseason makes senseCDTShareTweetShareShareThe Vikings and lower-tier free agentsMike DiNovo-USA TODAY SportsGoing into the offseason Anthony Barr Jersey , we knew that the Minnesota Vikings were not going to be able to make a whole lot of noise in free agency. Sure, they saved Anthony Barr from going to the New York Jets and signed Josh Kline and Shamar Stephen, but a lot of their moves have been minor.Among those minor moves has been the signings of five players. . .all on defense. . .that were a part of the Alliance of American Football prior to them shutting down operations.S Jordan MartinLB Greer MartiniDE Karter SchultS Derron SmithCB Duke ThomasThey’ve also made some other minor additions along the way.Because of the top-heavy nature of the Vikings’ current roster. . .let’s not forget that this team is still awfully stacked at most positions, talent-wise. . .and the salary cap situation, it’s hard to fault Rick Spielman and company for the way they’ve handled things.As of today, the Vikings only have 66 players under contract. The folks from Over the Cap only have 63, but I don’t see anything on there for Martin, Martini, or the recently-signed Jordan Taylor. If Spielman does his thing on draft day and gets to his magical number of 10 draft choices, that puts them at 76, meaning that there are still 14 spots on the 90-man roster that need to be filled.Rather than filling all of those spots with undrafted free agents, the Vikings have instead chosen to take a few fliers on guys who, until recently, had been playing professional football. . .regardless of whether it was at a lower level. I know that there were plenty of you out there that were watching the AAF, and probably already know that the guys that the Vikings signed from that league, particularly Derron Smith and Karter Schult, were very good in that league. The AAF gave teams an opportunity to find players they might not have found otherwise, and perhaps could continue to develop in Minnesota.The other thing that it’s important to remember is something that our friend Andy Carlson pointed out on the Twitters the other day. I can’t find the exact tweet, so I’ll just link his account. He’s someone you should be following if you’re a Vikings fan anyway.It’s important to remember that, when it comes to the NFL’s salary cap, there’s a rule called the “Top 51” rule. That rule dictates that only the 51 highest salaries on your 90-man roster count towards the salary cap. According to the Over the Cap page linked above, the cut-off point for the “Top 51” for the Vikings is a salary of $570,000.So, in effect, if the Vikings can sign a free agent for less than $570,000 Mike Hughes Jersey , they’re basically giving them a free tryout. If they’re impressive enough, they will stick, and if they’re not, then it doesn’t cost the Vikings anything. Not in terms of the salary cap, anyway.Of the five AAF free agents that the Vikings have signed, Smith is the only one that is above that cut line with a salary of $725,000 (because, apparently, the Vikings really liked him). Schult is at $497,500, while Thomas is at $500,000. I can’t imagine that Martin or Martini is above that mark, and I wouldn’t think that Jordan Taylor would be, either. None of the undrafted free agents are going to break that $570,000 barrier, unless things get a little weird.The Vikings have to get their roster to 90 players somehow, and given their current situation, it would appear that they’ve handled their offseason about as well as they could have. And who knows. . .maybe some of these lower-tier guys could end up being significant contributors going forward for the team. Most of the top of the roster is pretty solidified, but as we go through the offseason activities and mini-camps and on to Training Camp, there are going to be a lot of hungry players at the bottom of the roster that are going to be fighting for spots, and that will make things pretty exciting to watch, in my opinion.