Justin Jefferson's motor brought the Vikings to this point
Double team him? Sure. But that doesn't take Justin Jefferson out of any game. And that's why the Vikings are playing for the NFC on Sunday
By Matthew Coller
EAGAN — If you drafted Justin Jefferson on your fantasy team this year, you crushed it. Despite opponents twisting themselves into pretzels trying to double and triple team the Minnesota Vikings star wide receiver, he enters Week 18 with 100 catches, 1,479 yards and 10 touchdowns. Those numbers rank fifth, second and fifth in the NFL, respectively.
Along the way, he has made plenty of the highlight-reel catches that you would expect. There was the 97-yard touchdown against the 49ers, the tipped ball to himself against the Rams, and the 40-yard game-winning touchdown against the Seattle Seahawks. He caught 17 of a possible 28 contested catches, per PFF, and quarterback Sam Darnold posted a 110.8 QB rating when targeting him. Jefferson also made his fourth Pro Bowl, played 93% of snaps, drew more pass interference yards than any other receiver and went 1-for-1 passing with a 22-yard completion.
For 99.9% of receivers in the history of the NFL, that would be a career year but it’s all become routine stuff by Jefferson’s standard.
Yet it only covers a portion of what Jefferson has brought to the Vikings. There is a part of his game that is relentless. You might call it “high motor” or grittiness or sandpaper, except with way more skill than you usually connect to those cliches. A former Vikings receivers coach once described Adam Thielen as being like a pickup truck because he was tough and consistent from down to down. It’s like that but with jet engines strapped to it.
That rocket fuel that never seems to burn out, no matter if he has two catches or 20 or if he’s run blocking or running a 50-yard go route has been a driving force that sets the tone for the entire team. It has brought the Vikings to a 14-2 season and an opportunity on Sunday night to win the NFC with a victory over the Detroit Lions at Ford Field.
Two examples from last week’s game demonstrate the extra effort that sets Jefferson apart from many of his peers. The first came with 51 seconds remaining in the third quarter of the Vikings matchup with the Green Bay Packers. Up 20-10 with the ball at the ball at Green Bay’s 9-yard line, head coach Kevin O’Connell dialed up a screen pass to running back Cam Akers.
The play entailed Jefferson pretending he was running a regular route in order to keep the cornerback on his heels. Darnold would toss the ball to Akers, who was supposed to follow center Garrett Bradbury to the end zone. When Akers got it, Bradbury blocked his man, which left the only remaining player who could make the tackle as the cornerback who was occupied by Jefferson. At first, the Vikings’ star receiver locked up with the defensive back and then Jefferson violently punched the chest of the defender with both hands. He went flying back. Akers walked into the end zone.
“I just feel like there's more to a receiver than catching the ball,” Jefferson said on Thursday. “It's just so many different plays that you see out there where a receiver just gives up on the play and the defender that's on them makes the play and it could have been a touchdown… I just don't want to be that type of receiver.”
Jefferson ranks as PFF’s seventh best graded wide receiver in terms of run blocking and one of only 16 in the league with an above average grade.
He does have a little extra motivation though. Imagine spending three hours being grabbed, pushed and held by two people. When Jefferson is getting mauled like a former D1 basketball player playing pickup at the YMCA, he needs an outlet to take out his annoyance on the opponent.
“I want to be aggressive, especially when guys are double teaming me throughout the game and I'm not allowed to get those touches like I want, in the blocking game I'm going to show my frustration a little bit,” Jefferson said.
But it’s more than just trying to help others score and taking out frustrations. Jefferson knows that there are many other players on the team that are doing important things in order for him to get the highlight-reel plays.
“[Cam is] blocking for Sam [Darnold] on that blitzer that came in for him to throw the ball to me, that's pretty much the same thing as when I got a block for Cam, it’s just like he got he got a block from me,” Jefferson said.
O’Connell said that finding different ways to impact the game when he’s not getting the ball due to the attention from the defense has been part of Jefferson’s growth during the time he’s been head coach.
“I think he's learned over really the past three now that he's going to have to overcome some circumstances on game day,” O’Connell said. “Every team we play, they come out and publicly say they're going to try to take him away and I would do the same thing if I were our opponents because he's the best in the world at what he does. Sometimes that requires him to overcome, sometimes that requires him to be selfless and you know help help the other 10 guys win the down with his play style on a block.”
These things add up over time. The Vikings run game was inspired by a Los Angeles Rams system that required a lot from receivers like Cooper Kupp and Robert Woods to get into the action blocking wise. It wouldn’t operate as effectively if Jefferson couldn’t be trusted to get into the action.
“Everybody sees on the highlight tape and that's obviously Justin but when you turn on the tape, I don't think there's a play where he's not doing his job and making an impact on the play,” Hockenson said. “Whether it's taking two guys or digging a safety out from the box when we need it…He gets down there. He makes his position felt on that specific play and, you know, that's what makes him the best in the league at what he does.”
The second example of Jefferson’s motor making an impact came right before the game-ending play against the Packers.
The Vikings needed one more first down to put the game on ice and O’Connell elected to run a play-action bootleg that had Darnold rolling to his right and Jefferson coming from the far side of the field on a crossing route. Early in the play, Jefferson was covered well and it appeared there wasn’t going to be any options for Darnold to throw the ball and it seemed he might have to take a sack to keep the clock running. If that happened, the Vikings very likely would have ended up punting the ball back to the Packers and given them a shot to go win the game.
But Jefferson never stopped accelerating as the play continued and when he reached the point where he could see Darnold, the receiver cut off the angle of the defensive back by working back toward the quarterback. Darnold fired it into him and Jefferson went crashing down in bounds with a near first down. A short pass to Akers on the next play wrapped up the win.
“I thought one of the biggest plays in the game was… shaving down that low cross and setting up the [opportunity] to be able to throw it to Cam to convert and end the game,” O’Connell said. “He does so many things beyond just playing the receiver position to impact our offense. I think he sets the tone for just about everybody in that huddle to try to be at their best.”
On Sunday night, the stage will be at its biggest. There’s a reasonable argument that Jefferson is playing the most meaningful game of his career. It will be easy to see the catches he makes versus a Lions team that he has demolished in the past but keep your eyes on the other details of Jefferson’s game and you’ll see a whole different level of what he brings to the Vikings.
“We know that our best player is going to be not only working like that all through the week, but when the lights are brightest, we're going to get JJ's best,” O’Connell said.
They still should have traded him for picks because having an elite #1 is overrated.
I could not have typed that with more sarcasm in my heart.
Darnold cares about winning more than he cares about not throwing interceptions. That’s the difference between this and last year’s quarterbacks.