It wasn’t a relatively mediocre 81 receiving yards, ranking seventh in the otherwise dominant nine games Jefferson has played against the Detroit Lions in his career. He averages over 125 yards per game against the Lions, including Sunday’s loss.
It wasn’t Jefferson’s sporadic role Sunday, when half of plays he was targeted on — four of eight —came on a single drive to open the second half.
It was a Vikings offense that couldn’t get out of its own way: penalties, drops and missed throws.
The Vikings offense committed four presnap penalties, including two by receiver Jordan Addison, a false start pegged on center Garrett Bradbury and the late illegal formation when players hurriedly tried to line up for a spike to stop the clock. The Vikings entered Sunday averaging a league-worst three presnap penalties weekly.
“We knew coming into this game that it was going to be a battle, wasn’t going to be an easy cake walk,” Jefferson said. “But we definitely hurt ourselves in plenty of ways that y’all probably can’t see. But there on that field, we missed plenty of opportunities. We just have to be better, especially all the flags we had. We just have to be better all around.”
What self-inflicted issues could we not see?
“Getting the two-point conversion toward the end of the game, that would’ve helped tremendously,” Jefferson said. “Getting that third down toward the end of the game would’ve helped. Just plays being left out there on the field. But it’s no single person’s fault. We all have to be dialed in as a whole entire team.”
