Kevin O'Connell faced an immediate crossroads in the first drive of his first game as Vikings head coach and offensive play caller. Receiver Adam Thielen was ruled short of the marker in Packers territory. The offense faced a fourth-and-1 play from the Packers' 5-yard line.
Vikings film review: How Kevin O'Connell's playbook created opportunities for Justin Jefferson
Jefferson's dominant 184-yard performance was aided by a new offense that moved receivers before, during and after the snap against the Packers.
September 13, 2022 at 10:31PM
"You're thinking about possibly challenging the spot," O'Connell said. "About five seconds into it I said, 'I love this call. We'll go get this thing in the end zone.'"
O'Connell, a 37-year-old former NFL backup quarterback, trusted the playbook to spring Justin Jefferson in a key moment that gave the Vikings an early 7-0 lead during Sunday's 23-7 win. The play design embodied the reason Packers head coach Matt LaFleur cited when asked why coaches didn't have Green Bay's best coverage defender, cornerback Jaire Alexander, follow Jefferson around the formations.
"If you just commit to playing man coverage the whole game, sure," LaFleur said. "But they do a good job of putting them in different positions, whether it's in the slot, whether it's motioning. It seemed like he was in motion quite a bit, just moving him all over the place. You've got to give them credit. They put him in premier spots and attacked our coverage well, and certainly we had a couple blown coverages."
Jefferson's career-high 184 receiving yards marked a dominant performance, especially a 21-yard leaping grab on third down in which he soared over the defender. But Jefferson was also aided by O'Connell's playbook that moved receivers before, during and after the snap, showing the potential of the new offense. Here's a brief look at how Jefferson was used differently.
Starting with the fourth-and-1 play on the opening drive, Jefferson was hard for the Packers to pin down even while predominantly playing zone coverage intended to keep everything in front of them. The Packers' backed-off zone defense didn't produce at the goal line.
Jefferson (#18) is sent in a fly motion before the snap. Packers cornerback Rasul Douglas (#29) appears to signal to teammates across the defense that Jefferson is coming. That message was not received. The ball is snapped when Jefferson just passes quarterback Kirk Cousins in motion.
Snapping while Jefferson is on the run allows him to get a jump into the flat, where Packers cornerback Eric Stokes (#21) briefly abandons his side of the zone to follow receiver Adam Thielen (#19), previously the outer-most receiver before Jefferson slipped underneath.
"He was pretty open," Cousins said, "so it was just good design."
This was an early win in a gotta-have-it moment for O'Connell's Vikings. But LaFleur, who said Jefferson was in motion "quite a bit," was deceived by his memory immediately after the game. The play was the second and final time Jefferson motioned at the snap, but the Vikings also moved Thielen, receiver K.J. Osborn, fullback C.J. Ham and others to create hesitation and space within the defense.
The Vikings offense ran motion at the snap on 23% of plays against Green Bay, including Jefferson's 36-yard touchdown in which Thielen motioned only a few yards inside to get moving on a deep over route. Only the Steelers and Jaguars last season had as few passing plays with motion at the snap as the Vikings in 2021.
"That's the thing that I like about our offense," Jefferson said. "We move so much."
Mike Conley was in Minneapolis, where he sounded the Gjallarhorn at the Vikings game, on Sunday during the robbery.
