NFC North Week 6 roundup: Vikings hold off Dolphins to improve to 5-1, while Jets leap over Packers at Lambeau

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Dalvin Cook is very familiar with the Hard Rock Stadium end zones, having scored in them often in high school and college.

Playing less than 10 miles from where he excelled as a prep, Cook rushed for a 53-yard insurance touchdown in the fourth quarter to give the Minnesota Vikings a 24-16 win over the injury-riddled Miami Dolphins on Sunday in Miami Gardens, Fla.

Cook said he had about 60 family members at the game.

“It was good seeing them out there and seeing the smiles on their faces when I walked through the tunnel,” he said. “That was a moment that I’ll always replay in my head for the rest of my life.”

Cook was quiet most of the afternoon until his score with 3:25 left restored a two-touchdown lead for the Vikings (5-1).

“I was hoping he’d tripped over the turf, the grass,” said Dolphins quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, a former Viking. “He’s a little bow-legged or parrot-toed, and sometimes when he runs, he trips. I was hoping he’d have one of those moments where he’d trip and our defense would get a stop. Hats off to the Vikings, man. They’re a great team.”

The Dolphins (3-3) rallied behind Bridgewater, who returned Sunday from concussion protocol but was put in only after third-stringer Skylar Thompson injured his thumb in the second quarter.

Before Cook’s run, Dolphins receiver Jaylen Waddle fumbled on a drive when Miami was swiftly moving the ball down the field, trailing 16-10.

“I wish I had that one back,” Waddle said. “But it comes with the game.”

Vikings receiver Justin Jefferson, who entered the game as the NFL leader in receiving yards, had a 47-yard catch-and-run at the end of the third quarter — part of a six-catch, 107-yard performance. That set up a 2-yard touchdown catch by Adam Thielen to make it 16-3.

Facing their fifth straight fourth-quarter deficit, the Dolphins found the end zone for the first time when Bridgewater threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to tight end Mike Gesicki.

The Vikings defense came away with an interception and fumble recovery on the Dolphins’ next two possessions. Minnesota’s defense sacked Miami’s quarterbacks six times.

“We talked last night about any way it would take,” Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell said, “any means necessary to get to 5-1 going into this bye.”

The Dolphins had three receivers — Waddle, Tyreek Hill and Gesicki — with at least six catches. Hill had 12 receptions for 177 yards and Waddle had six catches for 129 yards. Gesicki caught the Dolphins’ only two touchdowns.

Thompson started in place of Bridgewater and Tua Tagovailoa. He didn’t return after injuring his thumb, marking the fourth-consecutive game that a Dolphins starting quarterback was injured.

Bridgewater replaced Thompson with about 11 minutes left in the first half after spending most of the week in the NFL’s concussion protocol. He finished with 329 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.

“The toughest part about this kind of situation is it’s similar to last week, man,” Bridgewater said, referring to his injury on the first offensive snap against the New York Jets. “Skylar had to get in there and just run plays that he didn’t really rep physically. It was the same today for me. Limited reps, but it’s the offense that I know.”

Cousins was 20 of 30 for 175 yards with two touchdowns. Cook ran for 77 yards on 13 carries.

The Vikings got Jefferson and Thielen involved on their fifth possession after four consecutive three-and-outs. The result was a touchdown catch by tight end Irv Smith Jr. for a 7-3 lead.

“We still haven’t played our best ball yet, honestly,” Jefferson said. “There’s so many things that we need to fix. The plays are there, we just got to execute them.”

From the start, Thompson looked more comfortable throwing the ball than he did in last week’s loss to the Jets. But the Dolphins did little to help their rookie quarterback on their first two drives.

Thompson had an impressive third-down scramble on Miami’s opening drive, then followed with a throw to Gesicki in tight coverage for an 18-yard gain.

The Dolphins offensive line, playing without starting left tackle Terron Armstead, allowed Patrick Jones to get through to Thompson untouched for an 8-yard sack that knocked the Dolphins out of field-goal range.

Miami had another drive in the first half spoiled by five penalties over 10 plays, wiping out gains of 20, 32 and 9 yards.

Breece Hall, Quinnen Williams and the young New York Jets are making a convincing statement to the rest of the NFL.

They aren’t the same old Jets who haven’t reached the playoffs since the 2010 season, the league’s longest active drought.

Hall ran for 116 yards, including a 34-yard touchdown, and Williams had two of the Jets’ four sacks against Aaron Rodgers as they won their third straight, 27-10 over the Green Bay Packers on Sunday at Lambeau Field.

“It just shows that we’re trending upward,” said Hall, a rookie second-rounder who quickly has become a key playmaker in the offense. “I feel like a lot of people expected that it would be a surprise if we won this game, but we expected to come in and win this game.”

Their confidence was apparent from their exuberance.

Hall celebrated his fourth-quarter touchdown by doing his own version of a “Lambeau Leap ” into a collection of Jets fans.

“We actually had all talked about it before the game,” Hall said. “We were like, whichever one of us scores, we’ve got to do the Lambeau Leap. Brax (Braxton Berrios) got the first one, but I don’t think there were any Jets fans on the side that he scored. So when I scored, I had to do it.”

Jets rookie cornerback Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner was seen after the game modeling one of the cheesehead hats typically worn by Packers fans as he walked around Lambeau Field.

Gardner said afterward that some Jets fans had given it to him.

“Just being able to play against somebody like Aaron Rodgers, that was a true blessing,” Gardner said. “I said I grew up playing Madden and he’s always been on Madden since I can remember. Running off the field with that cheesehead thing, with cheese on my head, that was a crazy feeling right there. I’m never going to forget that.”

The Jets (4-2) are off to their best six-game start since 2015, when they also were 4-2 before finishing 10-6.

They’re feeding off the mindset of their coach.

“Just keep giving them body blow after body blow after body blow and just keep hitting them,” Jets coach Robert Saleh said. “Just keep hitting them in the mouth. O-line just keep pushing and leaning on them. And we felt like if we could just keep taking them down the deep water, they’ll find out they can’t swim. It was just a mindset.”

Eventually, the Packers sank.

Green Bay (3-3) has lost consecutive regular-season games within the same season for the first time since coach Matt LaFleur’s arrival in 2019. The Packers fell 27-22 to the New York Giants last week in London.

The Jets, whose offensive coordinator is LaFleur’s younger brother Mike, outrushed the Packers 179-60. Jets quarterback Zach Wilson was just 10 of 18 for 110 yards.

Rodgers was asked after the game if he felt the Packers’ season was getting a little wobbly with the team falling to .500.

“We’ve got to be realistic of where we’re at,” said Rodgers, who went 26 of 41 for 246 yards with a touchdown. “We’ve played a couple of subpar games the last two. We’ve got to play better. But wobbly? Only if people are breaking rank. I think it’ll be interesting to look at the comments from all of our guys and coaches, and hopefully we stick together.

“That’s the important thing. Until I see us breaking ranks, I’m not going to say there’s any wobbliness going on.”

Rodgers injured his right thumb while getting sacked as he prepared to throw a Hail Mary pass on the final play against the Giants. The thumb prevented Rodgers from practicing Wednesday.

He said after the game his thumb was “a little sore” but added it affected him only on “maybe a couple (of throws) but not too many.”

The Jets broke a 3-all tie and pulled ahead for good by scoring two touchdowns in a span of less than 2½ minutes in the third quarter.

Berrios gave the Jets the lead by scoring on a 20-yard end-around. After the Jets stopped the Packers on their next possession, Michael Clemons blocked a punt and Will Parks got the ball and raced 20 yards into the end zone.

The Packers got back in the game as Rodgers threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Allen Lazard later in the third.

The Jets quickly resumed control.

Hall scored on his 34-yard burst to open the fourth quarter to make it 24-10, the longest run from scrimmage in the young career of the rookie second-round pick from Iowa State.

“It was supposed to be a reverse pass,” Hall said. “I was supposed to pitch it to Garrett (Wilson), but I felt the D-end was too far upfield so I couldn’t get the pitch off. I just saw daylight and just let my natural ability take over.”

The Packers entered Sunday having won 20 of the last 21 home games Rodgers started against AFC teams, including 11 straight victories.

But the reigning MVP had a frustrating afternoon against the Jets’ promising young defense.

“We feel like our D-line matches up from an advantages standpoint versus anybody, whether that’s cocky or unguided confidence, whatever it is,” Saleh said. “We love our D-line. We think they’re a rolling ball of butcher knives, and there’s a lot of them that can play at a high level.”

They’re starting to realize just how high they can go.

“We see where we can go when we do the things we need to do,” Williams said.