Justin Jefferson gets another shot at a Bills defense he torched
· Yahoo Sports
ORCHARD PARK - Justin Jefferson is in the middle of his seventh NFL season with the Minnesota Vikings, and the Buffalo Bills have had the very good fortune to have faced the two-time All-Pro wide receiver just once.
That will change Monday night when the Bills head to U.S. Bank Stadium to play Jefferson and the Vikings in the league’s premier game of Week 9 as it pits a pair of division leading 6-1 teams in prime time.
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Of course, that lone game against Jefferson was a pretty miserable experience at the old Highmark Stadium back in November 2022, the season when Jefferson was the NFL’s offensive player of the year.
That day, Jefferson was targeted 16 times by Kirk Cousins and caught 10 for 193 yards and a touchdown, and he also made what was arguably the catch of that NFL season, maybe the best catch of his brilliant career, which set in motion one of the craziest finishes to a Bills game in recent memory.
On a fourth-and-18 and trailing 27-23 with two minutes remaining, Cousins threw up a prayer toward the sideline and Jefferson leaped high into the air, got his left hand on the ball with Cam Lewis draped all over him and getting both of his hands on the ball. As the players fell to the turf, Jefferson somehow wrestled it away from Lewis and was able to keep it from touching the ground, completing a stunning 32-yard play.
Jefferson then made what appeared to be a go-ahead six-yard TD reception but instant replay determined he was just short of the goal line, and the Bills eventually stopped Cousins on a fourth-down QB sneak to secure a victory.
Not so fast. Josh Allen inexplicably fumbled on the next play and Eric Kendricks recovered in the end zone to put the Vikings up 30-27. Unfazed, Allen drove the Bills to Tyler Bass’ tying field goal with two seconds left, but after the Vikings took a 33-30 lead on a Greg Joseph field goal in overtime, the Bills reached the Minnesota 20 before Allen threw an interception to Patrick Peterson to end the game.
It was one of the games of the year in 2022. The Vikings finished with 24 first downs and 481 yards as Cousins threw for 357. Dalvin Cook, James Cook's older brother, ran for 119 yards, including an 81-yard touchdown that helped Minnesota rally from a 27-10 deficit.
Justin Jefferson has struggled to produce for Vikings in 2026
Those are offensive numbers the Vikings can only dream about in 2026 because despite their 6-1 record, not even Jefferson’s brilliance has made a difference as they rank 27th in scoring (20.0 points per game), 29th in yards (279.4) and 31st in passing yards (165.6).
If there was a day when the anemic Vikings’ offense would finally get its blood flowing, it figured to be last Sunday when it was facing one of the NFL’s worst defenses. Instead, the Detroit Lions held Minnesota to 15 points and 266 yards, and the Vikings suffered their first loss of the season.
The aggravation boiled over in the locker room and the normally affable Jefferson blew off reporters after he caught just five passes for 33 yards, one of those a tremendous one-handed TD reception. For the season, he has a mere 28 catches on 40 targets for 335 yards and four TDs.
"Obviously he's frustrated, and that's understandable,” quarterback Kyler Murray said. “He is who he is, and he has every right to the way he feels when he doesn't get the ball. That's on us to find a way to get him the ball."
Vikings head coach and offensive playcaller Kevin O’Connell was asked on Monday whether he’s sensing Jefferson’s irritation and whether he thinks it’s affecting him.
“Justin is the ultra-competitor,” O’Connell said. “I think it's been well documented, just the leadership of Justin and how he's really grown and really sets the standard. Look, Justin wanted to win the football game. We wanted him to have a big impact on the football game. Some of those, you go back and see the amount of attention,especially on some of those known passing downs where there's an immediate two defenders responsible to play man-to-man, double-team coverage on him. That's when some other guys have to make some plays.”
Kyler Murray's struggles have limited Justin Jefferson
O’Connell isn’t going to call out Murray publicly, but the quarterback has not helped Jefferson be the player he can be. The No. 1 overall pick in the 2019 draft by the Cardinals was released in March by an Arizona team with a new head coach looking to move in a new direction. The Vikings signed Murray, even though they had their 2024 first-round pick, JJ McCarthy, in the starters’ role.
Murray beat out McCarthy in training camp, McCarthy was later traded to the Giants, and Vikings fans may be wondering why as Murray has been one of the least effective starting QBs in the league. His passing success rate (getting the yardage needed to stay in favorable down and distance) is 38.5% which ranks 26th among all starters. For comparison, Allen ranks sixth at 50%.
Still, Bills defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard knows that every week is different, and the Vikings get to face a Buffalo defense that, while coming off a nice performance against Baltimore’s third-string QB, has struggled terribly all season against the pass, so even Murray can be a threat if he can locate Jefferson.
“We play a team that's 6-1,” Leonhard said. “What doesn't necessarily matter - offensively, defensively - is how they're getting it done and they know how to win, right? And that's the trick of the NFL is do you know how to win. We're gonna go to Minnesota and play a team that knows how to do that right now.”
Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for more than four decades including 37 years as the full-time beat writer/columnist for the D&C. He has written numerous books about the history of the team, and he is also co-host of the BLEAV in Bills podcast/YouTube show. He can be reached at [email protected], and you can follow him on X @salmaiorana and on Bluesky @salmaiorana.bsky.social.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Justin Jefferson gets another shot at a Bills defense he torched