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It’s always interesting seeing where a player will take a conversation on reaching individual milestones. Justin Jefferson, just 23 years old, has already had some practice doing it.
So when I raised the record with the Vikings’ receiver about breaking the best three-year start in NFL history—he’s now at 4,248 yards, which bests the mark of 4,163 by Vikings legend Randy Moss, and he still has games left in his third season—Jefferson wasn’t at any loss for words. And he didn’t hesitate to push things over to the guys he was surrounded by in a victorious Minnesota locker room, as we talked Thursday night.
“Oh yeah, I mean, it’s always special to be recognized, to top one of the greatest of all time and to do it with a couple games still left,” Jefferson said. “That just goes to show you the connection that me and Kirk [Cousins] have with this offense and of course, K.O. [Kevin O’Connell] coming in this year, helping us out with the different play calls and putting me in different situations to get the ball.
“This team is pretty special. A lot of guys play hand-in-hand on getting these types of wins, and it’s just not me going out there just making plays. It starts with the O-line, to Dalvin [Cook] coming down and making a block, Kirk throwing a good ball, and me going and making plays. It’s just full execution all the way around.”
That Jefferson was the most valuable Viking on the night he broke the record, in a 33–26 Thanksgiving win over the Patriots, won’t surprise anyone. But how he got to 139 yards and a touchdown on nine catches is remarkable nonetheless.
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And that’s because, as you’d expect, New England coach Bill Belichick and his staff, always intent on taking an offense’s strength away and making it play lefthanded, threw the kitchen sink at Jefferson, trying to make Cousins go elsewhere with the ball. He didn’t have to, which is a pretty good indication of how Jefferson has gotten to the best yardage mark in under three seasons—it almost doesn’t matter what you do; he’s gonna get his.
How does he still get open? I had him take me through a few critical plays from Thursday-night’s game.
• Interestingly enough, Jefferson’s second touch resulted in an 11-yard completion—only in this case, he was the one throwing the ball rather than catching it. The double-pass call was designed to suck the defense up, with Cousins delivering a slightly backward throw to Jefferson, and Jefferson throwing it past defenders pursuing him, to Adam Thielen.
“My brother’s a quarterback,” Jefferson said, referencing older sibling Jordan, who played the position at LSU. “I’ve been throwing the ball since I was a young kid. I still can throw the ball; that’s pretty much why we only throw the ball with me. I saw Adam, sitting in the hole with the safety over the top, and I was just throwing it in the hole. It was a great play by both of us, just being on the same page.”
• Three plays later, to cash that one in, the Vikings had to convert a third-and-2 from the New England 6-yard line. And this is one of those spots where everyone in the building, the guys wearing navy and red included, knew where Cousins wanted to go with the ball. Yet, there was Jefferson, catching the ball between three defenders inside the 5-yard line, and diving over the goal line.
“It’s just kind of like a little rub play, K.J. [Osborn] going vertical and then me coming underneath him, and then me using my speed to get across the field,” Jefferson said. “Kirk threw a great pass before the back-side linebacker was there, before the safety was there. Just great execution all the way around.”
• The Patriots punched back to take a 13–10 late in the second quarter, and Minnesota was looking at a potential three-and-out, with the momentum already going the other way, as it faced third-and-7 from its own 28. Accordingly, Belichick doubled Jefferson, with Jonathan Jones covering him to the outside, and Devin McCourty to the inside. And with a guy to his right and to his left, Jefferson ran by both of them.
Thirty-seven yards later, the Vikings were at the New England 35, and six plays away from regaining the lead at 16–13.
“That’s just Kirk just giving me the opportunity to go up and make a play,” Jefferson said. “They’d been doubling me throughout the entire game. So just using my speed, trying to get downfield, and him just throwing it up to me and letting me make a play.”
• With the game tied at 26, 10:27 left, and a second-and-2 from the Vikings’ 49 looming, O’Connell saw the chance to go for the jugular and seized on it. And Cousins followed through on the lessons the coaches have tried to give him on taking more chances, putting another one up for Jefferson, this one a hole shot down the left sideline. Jones was, again, close in coverage, and McCourty came to level Jefferson as the ball arrived.
Jefferson didn’t flinch. He hauled the ball in, took the hit and picked up 36 yards.
“That play, we had a double-move on,” Jefferson said. “I beat ’em off the double move, safety was kind of over the top, slightly to my side. Kirk threw it up, just letting me go up and make a play again. And I’m using my peripheral to see the safety coming, and Kirk dropped the ball perfectly right before he came.”
On the next play, Belichick had three guys on Jefferson. Which opened things up for Thielen on a 15-yard, game-winning touchdown.
That capped a day in which Jefferson didn’t just do the big things but also the little things, too. Two weeks ago, it was a block in Buffalo to spring an 81-yard Cook touchdown run. This time, it was making a seven-yard catch that prevented a pick in the second quarter, when the Patriots had scored 10 consecutive. The play was wiped out by an offensive holding call, but if Jefferson doesn’t make it, the Patriots decline the penalty and get the ball back.
Jefferson acknowledged to me the importance of that one. But he also talked about how everyone’s played their part in the team’s 9–2 start. Which is also what he did, one more time, when the topic of fighting off double teams and continuing to produce came up.
“It’s our execution, just K.O. dialing up plays,” he said. “We knew going into the game that they were going to double me a good bit of times, but just our play-calling, me moving across, motioning across, just getting different looks, it definitely helped out a little bit. But I’m just glad that we got the win, and we were able to bounce back from last week.
“This team is very special. The team I had at LSU was special, too, but this one is as special. Our chemistry, the way we fight for each other, the players that we have that make plays on the offensive side and defensive side, and special teams, we have a lot of guys on this team and we just got to focus every single week, play week by week and don’t worry about what’s coming up ahead, and just do what we gotta do. But this is the start of it, for sure.”
And as for where this one finishes, it’s fair to say Jefferson will be a huge part of that. Regardless of what other teams do to stop him.
