Tag: Justin Jefferson

Watch Kirk Cousins celebrate the win doing the griddy

Cousins seems to have taken dancing lessons in the offseason

The Minnesota Vikings beat the New Orleans Saints 28-25 in a game that was closer than it had any right to be.

The Vikings allowed the Saints to get back into the game and had to rely on two drives from starting quarterback Kirk Cousins to get them into a position to win. Thankfully, they were aided by multiple penalties on the touchdown drive that helped them get the lead.

After the game, Cousins and the Vikings both celebrated the win on the field and Cousins did so in a way that is very familiar to the Vikings: he hit the Griddy.

Egged on by cornerback and special teams ace Kris Boyd, Cousins hit it on his way into the tunnel and it wasn’t half bad. It’s not on the same level as star wide receiver Justin Jefferson but it’s much-improved over his first attempt in week 17 of the 2020 season.

The fun is back in the Vikings locker room and building.

The Vikings couldn’t convert in the red zone

The Vikings continue to struggle in the red zone

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The Vikings narrowly squeaked out a 28-25 victory against a feisty New Orleans Saints team in London on Sunday morning.

One of the reasons the game was as close as it end up was due to the Vikings’ lack of consistency and success on offense. After scoring with relative ease on their first drive, the Vikings struggled mightily in the red zone.

In five total trips, the Vikings only converted a touchdown two times: their first and last trips. The only reason they scored a touchdown on their last trip was due to a massive pass interference penalty that gave the Vikings the ball inside the five-yard line.

One of the big reasons why the Vikings struggled to convert? Kirk Cousins’ indecisiveness. It wasn’t more evident than their second drive in the second half. On a third and goal, the Vikings ran a shallow/deep crosser concept designed to get Justin Jefferson open in the back corner of the end zone. Cousins took Thielen which was a one-yard gain forcing a field goal attempt.

The Vikings had plenty of opportunities to put this game away and struggles in the red zone are the main reason why they only won by a field goal in the final minute. They will have to fix it if they want to be a contending team long-term.

Vikings barely outlast Saints 28-25 on a double doink

The Vikings escape London after a double doink

There is no reason that this game should have been close but in classic Vikings fashion, they allowed a team missing their QB1, RB1 and WR to be competitive and held on by a sliver in a 28-25 victory in London. The win makes the Vikings the first-ever team to go 3-0 in London

The Vikings got off to a really hot start in getting a touchdown on the opening drive, a 15-yard bubble screen pass to Alexander Mattison after penalties knocked them outside of the 10-yard line.

The offense struggled all day. Kirk Cousins was off for most of the game. He was missing targets by a hair. He was also disrupted often by a relentless pass rush that got him for three sacks. He finished the game 25-for-38 for 273 yards, one touchdown and one interception.

The offense did a great job getting Justin Jefferson involved in the offense. On 13 targets, Jefferson had 10 catches on 13 targets for 147 yards and a rushing touchdown. Jefferson was involved from the get-go having two catches on the first drive.

The Vikings defense, outside of two forced fumbles, allowed the Saints to drive up and down the field with relative ease. The pass rush wasn’t consistent and they were successful in getting completions down the field. The Vikings defense needs to be aggressive and they weren’t in this game.

The Saints played about as well as you could expect for a team missing their top-three offensive skill players. Andy Dalton was efficient all game, going 20-for-28 for 236 yards and a touchdown.

The biggest factor for the Saints on offense was rookie wide receiver Chris Olave. He was excellent on the day, including catching a ball in traffic that notched the Saints a game-tying 60-yard field goal with 1:24 remaining. He caught four passes for 67 yards and a touchdown but made all of his catches in critical situations for the Saints.

The real stars of the game were the kickers. Even though he missed an extra point that complicated things at the end, Vikings kicker Greg Joseph made five field goals on the day with the longest being 47 yards.

Saints kicker Will Lutz was on a different level for the Saints. He hit a game-tying 60-yard field goal and barely missed a second one at 61-yards out. It double-doinked off the left post and the crossbar giving the Vikings the victory.

Stay tuned as we continue analyzing the game here on the Vikings Wire.

6 matchups to watch in Week 4’s Saints-Vikings kickoff from London

6 matchups to watch in Week 4’s Saints-Vikings kickoff from London, via @DillySanders and @RossJacksonNOLA:

Sunday’s kickoff in London between the New Orleans Saints and Minnesota Vikings will feature star talent on both sides of the ball, pitting two talented defenses against a couple of offenses that are just beginning to find their way this season. It’s going to be an exciting affair — here are six individual matchups we’ll be watching closely.

Vikings vs Saints: Week 4 bold predictions

We make some bold predictions for week four against the New Orleans Saints

The Minnesota Vikings have a chance to be London’s first-ever 3-0 team when they take on the New Orleans Saints on Sunday morning.

There are still question marks as we look forward to the game as Vikings RB Dalvin Cook and Saints QB Jameis Winston are both questionable due to injuries.

As we continue previewing this pivotal NFC clash, here are four bold predictions heading into Sunday.

Zulgad: Vikings know they must find a way to get Justin Jefferson more involved

From @jzulgad: After a great first game against the Green Bay Packers, Justin Jefferson was stifled. The coaching staff knows they need to get him more involved

Justin Jefferson put the NFL on notice this summer, when he declared it was his intention to be considered the league’s top wide receiver by the end of the season. Jefferson quickly took a stride toward accomplishing that goal by catching nine of 11 passes for 184 yards and two touchdowns in a 23-7 victory over Green Bay in the opener.

But if the Packers failed to take Jefferson seriously enough on Sept. 11, the Vikings’ next two opponents, Philadelphia and Detroit, weren’t about to make the same mistake. The Eagles put Pro Bowl cornerback Darius Slay on Jefferson in Week 2 and held him to six catches for 48 yards on 12 targets in a 24-7 loss.

The Lions followed that by putting double and triple teams on Jefferson, and also had corner Jeff Okudah, the third pick in the 2020 draft, pay special attention to the 22nd selection in the same draft. Jefferson’s final line: Three receptions on six targets for a career-low 14 yards.

That was the downside. The upside was the Vikings twice rallied from double-digit deficits for a 28-24 victory that came on Kirk Cousins’ 28-yard touchdown pass to K.J. Osborn with 45 seconds left in the fourth quarter. Osborn was wide open in part because the Lions were far more concerned about Jefferson.

“It’s frustrating, for sure, but I asked for it,” Jefferson said. “Just playing the way I’ve been playing. Just being the type of player that I am. Those double teams and triple teams are going to come. But that’s the luxury of having Adam (Thielen) and K.J. on the other side.”

Thielen finished with six catches for 61 yards and a touchdown, and Osborn had five catches for 73 yards. Jefferson’s assessment of the value of drawing defensive backs to him is spot on, but one of the reasons the Vikings hired offensive-minded coach Kevin O’Connell this offseason was to make sure Jefferson never became a forgotten man.

The 23-year-old is one of the NFL’s most dynamic wide receivers, and getting the ball in his hands remains incredibly important for O’Connell. O’Connell estimated that of the 72 offensive snaps Jefferson participated in on Sunday — 100 percent of the plays — there were “about eight or nine where he didn’t have some variation of a double.”

That’s a tremendous nod to the respect Jefferson commands, and a big-time challenge for O’Connell to outsmart opposing defensive coordinators. Sunday’s lack of production isn’t (yet) reason for panic, but it has sent O’Connell and his offensive coaching staff back to the film room.

O’Connell talked this offseason about how Jefferson would be the Vikings’ version of Rams star wide receiver Cooper Kupp. O’Connell was the non-play calling offensive coordinator for the Super Bowl champion Rams last season and watched Kupp lead the NFL in receptions (145), targets (191), yards (1,947) and touchdown catches (16) en route to winning the Super Bowl MVP.

The Rams move Kupp around pre-snap in an attempt to confuse defenses and draw out their intentions. O’Connell sees no reason he can’t do the same with Jefferson. But three games into the season, it hasn’t been as simple as some believed.

“It’s one of those things with great, great players in this league and the coaching that goes on, they do things to try to take away what you do best,” O’Connell said. “And the way we were able to run the football, the way we were able to get Adam and K.J. and some of these other guys ops in the passing game is because of Justin Jefferson dictating a lot of coverage, dictating how runs are fit, dictating how they play on the edges. Justin had a huge impact on (the Lions) game. It just didn’t show up in the stat sheet.

“But that’s not good enough. I have to do a better job giving Justin different aspects of lining up in different spots, different personnel groupings, whatever I need to do to help him because he’s an ultra-competitor, and we’ll get him going.”

Jefferson, to his credit, did not pout after Sunday’s game. In his two-plus NFL seasons, he has shown no signs of turning into a prima donna wide receiver. But he also is up for a massive contract extension after the season and being a decoy isn’t the best way to cash in.

“We’ll just keep trying to see week-to-week how teams defend him and take advantage of opportunities when we can,” Cousins said. “I think the key will be offensive production, regardless of who’s getting the ball. I think it will be important that we are moving the football and scoring points really is what matters. However, we do that is great by me. But certainly, it would suggest that if Justin’s there he’s a great option to try to do that.”

The Vikings will face New Orleans on Sunday in London, and, if the Saints follow the blueprints set by the Eagles and Lions, they will have standout Pro Bowl cornerback Marshon Lattimore on Jefferson most of the game. That will present another test for Jefferson and O’Connell in what promises to be a weekly cat-and-mouse game that will test both player and coach.

“It’s definitely difficult to keep my cool during that moment,” Jefferson said. “Of course, I want the ball. Of course, I want to be a play-maker, do stuff for my team. But when (the double and triple teams) come, I can’t do too much about it. Just listening to the play calls, doing what I’m told and K.J. and Adam getting wide open because they are getting those one-on-one coverages.”

Credit Jefferson for saying the right things. But the bigger credit will go to O’Connell, if he can find a way to get Jefferson away from all of this attention.

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Watch Kevin O’Connell create space using Justin Jefferson

The Vikings star receiver is good for more than just catching passes

After a dominant week one against the Green Bay Packers, things have been tough for star wide receiver Justin Jefferson.

His week one performance was nothing short of spectacular. He caught nine pass on 11 targets for 184 yards and two touchdowns. With the Packers playing zone defense consistently, Jefferson was able to run free consistently.

In weeks two and three, Jefferson caught the same nine passes for a paltry 62 yards and zero touchdowns. In being mostly shut down by man coverage, there are a lot of ways for the Vikings to take advantage of how Jefferson is being double covered with mostly bracket coverage. The fourth down play below is a perfect example of that.

Adam Thielen catches this when he finds the softspot in the zone after Jefferson draws the flat defender deep with him along with two other defenders.

Using Jefferson to open space both underneath and in the intermediate levels can make a massive difference for the Vikings as they try to continue to scheme open Jefferson.

5 stats to take away from Vikings 28-24 win over the Lions

After Sunday’s game, there are some interesting stats to focus on moving forward

The Minnesota Vikings beat the Detroit Lions 28-24 over the Detroit Lions in what was a true clunker game for them.

There were plenty of storylines coming out of the game, including quarterback Kirk Cousins leading a game-winning drive culminating in a comeback victory for the Vikings.

When you look at the stats for this game and the Vikings as a whole, there are some interesting stats to take away. Here are five that you need to be aware of.

Vikings Justin Jefferson checks in with diamond-encrusted gloves

Justin Jefferson of the Vikings is a gem

Justin Jefferson of the Minnesota Vikings wasn’t about to let a college wide receiver upstage an NFL star.

A day after Marvin Harrison Jr. showed up for Ohio State’s romp over Wisconsin in an Apple Watch and Louis Vuitton cleats, the Vikings star wideout proved he is a gem.

Check out these gloves, you know the ones that feature diamonds in them as the Vikings got ready to play the Detroit Lions.

Vikings Film Room: Understanding quarterback reads

Sometimes, the right read doesn’t always appear as such

The Minnesota Vikings lost a tough game to the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday night by a score of 24-7.

Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins has received a lot of criticism for making improper reads and not hitting a wide-open receiver down the field. This has happened quite a bit during his tenure with the Vikings.

There are times where the criticism is warranted but other times it isn’t. The following clip is one of those times. Lets discuss it.

The Vikings have 11 personnel on the field. Two wide receivers to the top, a tight end to the nearside and both a running back and Justin Jefferson in the backfield. The idea of having Jefferson in the backfield is going to be as a decoy. It also will make an impact on film the more you utilize him out of the backfield.

The play sets up with clear-out routes from both receivers at the top and Johnny Mundt runs a 10-yard hook. Out of the backfield, Jefferson runs a wheel route which pairs well with the hitch (rub route) but isn’t meant to be a read. The screen pass is the only read here.

Seeing Jefferson that wide open on the wheel route is really frustrating but it’s not for nothing. The Vikings will be using this down the line with Jefferson or somebody else running that same route on a play-action or screen fake.