The Many Ways Justin Jefferson Beat the Bills in Week 10

As cliche as it is to say “you win as a team, you lose as a team,” it might be the truest statement about football that you can make. But against the Bills last week, Justin Jefferson came as close as a player can to single-handedly winning a game for his team.

Jefferson’s unbelievable one-handed catch on a desperation 4th-and-18 heave to keep the Vikings alive is the highlight you’ve undoubtedly seen over and over. But this play wasn’t the only impressive one from his performance on Sunday. For 4+ quarters, Jefferson showed just how complete he is as a receiver, from his athletic ability to his detailed route-running to his ball-tracking skills (He even threw a key block that sprang Dalvin Cook on his 81-yard touchdown run).

Jefferson’s dominance was especially prevalent in key situations. In fact, on 3rd and 4th down combined, he caught 6 passes on 7 targets for 143 yards, 1 touchdown, and 5 conversions. Game changer.

It started on Minnesota’s first 3rd down of the game. Buffalo was showing a man-coverage look and Jefferson would be running a deep-in. However, the defender responsible for him, Christian Benford (#47), was in press position and taking away the inside with his alignment, which would make it difficult for Jefferson to get open on an in-breaking route:

Jefferson’s response was not to force it and fight through Benford inside. Instead, he released to the sideline with no hesitation, getting into a full-on sprint immediately to sell the go-route. That forced Benford to turn and run with him, thinking he had to defend the go. But since Benford was sprinting to stay with Jefferson, he was not under control in his ability to react to his route. So when Jefferson broke inside, he was able to create the needed separation:

Three plays later, Jefferson would actually run a go-route. This time, he didn’t sprint off the line and release outside immediately like you saw on the previous play. Instead, he slow-played it at the snap. This was to keep his defender, Dane Jackson (#30), from turning and running with Jefferson right away and squeezing him to the sideline:

Jefferson was able to “stack” Jackson because of his release and the use of his arms/hands mid-route. From the broadcast angle, you can also notice how late Jefferson’s hands were. This means he waited until the last possible moment to put his hands up to reel in the pass, making it difficult for Jackson (whose back was turned to the quarterback) to get a read on when to turn his head around to play the ball or when to play through Jefferson’s hands to break up the pass. Watch how his head didn’t get around until after Jefferson actually caught this pass:

That’s one of those subtle aspects of the position that can make a huge difference, especially on a ball like this that was slightly under thrown into tight coverage.

The great route-running and technique didn’t end there.

On this 3rd-and-7 in the second quarter, Jefferson would be running a dig: