With the Vikings trailing by four points with 1:52 to go on Sunday and facing a fourth-and-18, Justin Jefferson made the most acrobatic catch of his career because Kirk Cousins figured he'd be better off counting on the receiver to do something spectacular than he would be anywhere else.
"There's not a lot of scheme that you can go find in that moment," Vikings coach Kevin O'Connell said. "It was about a player, and our quarterback, and the two of them behind good protection in a gotta-have-it moment — try to just give him a chance to make a play. It happened right in front of me; one of the more remarkable catches I've ever seen. He's such a special, special player."
Jefferson pulled down the quarterback's 32-yard heave with a one-handed catch that rivaled the famous 2015 grab by Odell Beckham Jr. (Jefferson's predecessor at LSU) for difficulty and surpassed it for consequence.
The Vikings drove to the goal line, and though they were stopped on Cousins' fourth-down sneak, they pulled ahead on the next play when Eric Kendricks recovered a botched exchange between Josh Allen and Mitch Morse for a touchdown. Then, in overtime, Cousins' final completion of the day was a 24-yard strike to Jefferson to the 2 along the right sideline, between tight coverage from Dane Jackson and Damar Hamlin.
The third-year receiver finished with 193 yards, a career high and the most by an NFL receiver this season. His day became even more impressive when considering how difficult it was: According to NFL Next Gen Stats, Jefferson had an average of just 1.5 yards of separation from the closest defender on his 16 targets. Only three other players — Mike Williams in Week 2, DeVante Parker in Week 3 and Christian Watson on Sunday — have surpassed 100 yards this season while facing such consistently tight coverage. And Pro Football Focus said Jefferson's seven contested catches were the most by any player in the league since it began tracking the metric in 2016.
If Jefferson's day was a product of Cousins trusting the receiver to make plays, it was also a result of the quarterback trusting himself.
According to NFL Next Gen Stats, Cousins threw 30% of his passes into tight windows on Sunday. The figure was the highest in the league this week, and came a week after Cousins' 25% aggressiveness score was the third-highest in the NFL.
Vikings coaches have encouraged Cousins to give his receivers more chances. O'Connell praised the quarterback's touchdown pass to Jefferson into tight coverage last week in Washington and said he was proud of Cousins for trying Jefferson on a jump ball in the back of the end zone again at the end of the first half. Even though Benjamin St.-Juste intercepted that pass, the Vikings had been looking for the one-on-one matchup that Cousins tried to exploit on the play.
Jefferson, the Vikings figure, will come down with those throws more often than not. In Sunday's 33-30 win in Buffalo, he rewarded Cousins' faith in him.
"I've been putting it up there for him for three years," Cousins said. "So I'm going to keep doing that."
Though the Vikings want to keep giving Jefferson chances, there's a line between leaning heavily on him and throwing too many passes up for grabs. "Because hopefully we can do a good job in our scheme that, if it's that kind of coverage to Justin, maybe there's some other guys," O'Connell said.
He thought the Vikings had a chance for a big gain to K.J. Osborn in the first quarter, where "Justin did a good job taking some coverage with him" on a deep out route, but Cousins overthrew Osborn on a deep crossing route and Christian Benford intercepted his pass.
"But I think Kirk's ability to find T.J. [Hockenson] on a fourth down [with 6:51 to go in the fourth quarter] — nobody will remember that play when it's all said and done — I think we'll all go back and look at this one and really need to unpack quite a bit," O'Connell said.
At times in the past two years, though, it seemed the Vikings were too reluctant to give Jefferson chances to come down with contested catches. Even if there are some fine adjustments to make to Cousins' current approach, Jefferson delivered numerous examples on Sunday of why trusting him in tight moments is a good idea.
"Just the way my body went up, [Bills cornerback Cam Lewis] catching the ball in his hands and me taking it from him, the whole play was crazy," Jefferson said. "But it starts with the O-line, giving Kirk that time to give me the opportunity to go up in and make a play. It's not me; so many people played so many different parts in this win. I'm just glad to be 8-1."
TWO PLAYERS WHO STOOD OUT
Harrison Phillips: Facing his former team, Phillips was a force in the middle of the Vikings' defensive line throughout the game, generating seven pressures against Josh Allen, according to Pro Football Focus. On the game's most pivotal play, Phillips saw Allen check to a quarterback sneak from the Bills goal line, moved just before the snap to get an angle on former teammate Mitch Morse, took the center out of the play and allowed Eric Kendricks to swoop in and recover the fumbled snap for a touchdown. Phillips also collapsed the pocket and sent Allen scrambling when Danielle Hunter and Za'Darius Smith pulled the quarterback down for a 14-yard sack.
Ezra Cleveland: Dalvin Cook's 81-yard touchdown run came as a result of two key blocks, from Cleveland and Justin Jefferson. Cleveland chipped Tim Settle on a combo block with Garrett Bradbury before working up to Matt Milano, sealing off the linebacker while Jefferson drove Damar Hamlin out of the play and to the ground. Cleveland gave up a sack, when Bills tackle Ed Oliver beat him in overtime, but his work throughout the day was impressive.
ONE AREA OF CONCERN
Greg Joseph's accuracy: The kicker's missed extra point in the fourth quarter might have been an analytically inclined blessing in disguise, since it forced the Vikings to play for a touchdown and the win rather than settling for a field goal on their last drive of regulation. But he's missed four extra points this season — no other kicker has missed more than three — and his 72.2 field goal percentage is the lowest in the league among kickers who've attempted more than eight field goals. The Vikings raved about Joseph in the preseason and seem inclined to stick with him for now, but it's worth watching whether they bring in any kickers for tryouts in the near future.
