LONDON – Occasionally when Kevin O'Connell walks past Justin Jefferson in the Vikings practice facility, he stops for a brief conversation with the third-year wide receiver. Quite often, the chats give the coach a chance to re-emphasize the message he's delivered to Jefferson: Be a leader.
Justin Jefferson works through his frustration to have a big game against the Saints
The Vikings receiver had 150 yards on 11 touches in London, including the first rushing TD of his career and a 39-yard catch that set up the winning field goal.
October 3, 2022 at 11:08AM
"I definitely wasn't a vocal player my first two years in the league, just trying to fit into everything, being a young player, listening to the veterans," Jefferson said. "Now going into my third year, playing the way I've been playing, he definitely wanted me to take on that leadership role. Not getting frustrated, not having those temper tantrums on the sideline when I'm not getting my way, that all plays a part."
The past two weeks tested Jefferson's resolve. After he caught nine passes for 184 yards and two touchdowns in the Vikings' season-opening win over the Packers, he had nine catches in the next two games combined. The Eagles assigned Darius Slay to neutralize Jefferson in their Week 2 Monday night win, and the Lions paired safeties with cornerback Jeff Okudah to double-team him throughout the Vikings' comeback victory last Sunday.
O'Connell kept his message the same: Stay patient, and be composed.
"I spent a lot of time with J.J. over the last couple weeks," O'Connell said. "Just continuing to tell him how much I appreciate the leadership that he's shown by not allowing that frustration to affect not only his play but our offense — obviously how excited he was last week for K.J. [Osborn] and Adam Thielen to make plays late in the game against the Lions to win."
In Sunday's 28-25 victory over the Saints, though, the Vikings made a point to get Jefferson the ball. They opened the game with a quick 10-yard pass to him. His second catch came when he released on a route out of the backfield. And when the Vikings saw one-on-one matchups for Jefferson against Marshon Lattimore, O'Connell made it clear they wanted to get Jefferson the ball.
The end result: 150 yards for Jefferson on 11 touches, including the first rushing touchdown of his career on a jet sweep that put the Vikings ahead in the fourth quarter and a 39-yard catch behind Lattimore that set up Greg Joseph's winning field goal with 24 seconds left.
Jefferson could have scored a second touchdown if he'd hauled in a Kirk Cousins pass that was high and behind him, but the quarterback and receiver got the better of Lattimore, with Cousins frequently finding Jefferson on intermediate routes after he separated from the Saints cornerback.
Afterward, O'Connell presented Jefferson with a game ball.
"He earned that game ball today," O'Connell said. "In my opinion, he earned it in the preparation leading up to this over these last couple weeks."
As Cousins said after the game, teams will find new ways to try and deny Jefferson the ball in the weeks to come. To Jefferson, there's a link between patience and leadership.
"Because I'm not being an emotional player," he said. "I'm not being a virus to the team. Just being frustrated. I'm going to be frustrated, but I'm going to keep that to myself. At the end of the day, if somebody's double-teaming me, I can't really do too much about that. That just shows you how much effect I have on the defensive side.
"I mean, if I'm getting doubled, K.J. and Adam are getting one-on-one [matchups]. We feel confident in those type of matchups getting the ball to them and making a play."
Mike Conley was in Minneapolis, where he sounded the Gjallarhorn at the Vikings game, on Sunday during the robbery.
