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Vikings frustrated after 29-20 loss to the Jets

Offense came alive in second half but first half problems proved too much

October 12, 2010 at 12:04PM

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Hello everyone. We're going to have to do a fast update here after the Vikings 29-20 loss to the New York Jets. We have a plane to catch in a few hours so we'll get to as much as we can before we have to bolt out of New Meadowlands Stadium.

Where to begin? A lot happened tonight as the Vikings fell to 1-3 on a strange night, but frustration was the overwhelming feeling in the postgame locker room, particularly amongst the offensive players.

The Vikings did absolutely nothing in the first half offensively, and several players questioned the lack of aggressiveness in the play-calling. The Vikings had 51 total yards in the first half and three first downs n what was an embarrassing display.

The offense came alive with 20 points in the second half on three touchdown passes from Brett Favre. So what happened? What changed?

"You have to ask the coaches that," said Percy Harvin, who had two touchdown catches, 97 receiving yards and 175 return yards. "We kind of opened it up a little more. The first half we kind of I guessed played right into their hands. Their DBs couldn't lock us up one-on-one. We knew that coming into the game. You seen that in the second half."

Left guard Steve Hutchinson seemed perplexed by the execution in the first half.

"I don't know," he said. "You come out the first half and played [terrible] offensively-speaking. We screw around offense for whatever reason. You come out and play like that in the second half. It's the oldest cliche in football. It's a 60-minute game. You've got to play 60, not 30."

Favre's arm hurting

We'll have plenty about Brett Favre's day in stories and columns but a few items of note. Favre was seen grabbing his right elbow several times and he admitted this is the worst it's felt. Asked if his arm contributed to first-half struggles, Favre said: "I don't think I threw it enough in the first half to matter."

"This is probably the worst it's felt in four games," he said. "I missed some throws the last drive, I think I make in my sleep. Really the last two drives."

Because of the arm?

"I'm not going to sit here and make excuses," he said. "I missed it. I have a little bit of tendinitis in it, but I also made some pretty good throws tonight too. I can't sit here and say tendinitis caused me to miss however many throws. It doesn't feel as good as it did after Detroit. But I should have made some of those throws."

Favre declined to answer any questions regarding the Deadspin.com reports and NFL investigation into the matter.

Moss debut

Randy Moss caught four passes for 81 yards and one touchdown in his first game back in a Vikings uniform. He was targeted 10 times by Favre.

"It's been a long week," Moss said. "I'm kind of worn out, man. It's frustrating. I put a lot in this."

Moss admitted he had a limited knowledge of the offense after getting only three days of practice. "I just wanted to stay on the same page with the offense," Moss said. "Coming in just three or four days, it had my nerves going. I'm not saying I ad-libbed out there but it was a tough week for me." Moss gave the offense a spark with his 37-yard touchdown catch on a go-route in the third quarter. "I have to admit when I threw that touchdown pass to Randy Moss, I had been thinking about that for eight, 10 years," Favre said. "If you didn't know that so I was a little bit excited about that. Talk about a spark. He can light a flame." There were reports that Moss and Tom Brady had an argument in the locker room before Moss was traded from New England. But Moss said Brady actually sent him a text Monday, and he thanked him publicly for it. Etc. -- Cornerback Cedric Griffin left the locker room on crutches after injuring his right knee. Griffin, who suffered a torn ACL in his left knee in the NFC Championship game last season, declined to talk to reporters but said "it's something new. Not the same one." -- Jon Cooper replaced Ryan Cook at center in the second half. Cook said he was not injured. "I have no clue," Cook said. "You'll have to ask coach. I have no idea why. They came in at halftime and said Coop is in and that was it." -- Defensive end Brian Robison injured his ankle in the first half and didn't return. He said he'll have his ankle examined on Tuesday. Sorry for the quick post but we have to rush back to hotel to get our things and get to the airport. We'll update more once we get settled.