Justin Jefferson on Vikings’ offense: ‘We’re 6-0, what we’re doing is working’

Yeah, it was definitely opportunities, definitely yards being left out there for sure. But, you know, it's a part of it sometimes, you know, it's, you know, just growing pains of, you know, just trying to figure out the offense and getting on the same page. You know, that's the main thing. And, you know, it takes time, you know, and we still, you know, talk about how, you know, that offense is going to have one of those games of being complete and, you know, just dialing it up. And that day is going to come. But it takes time to get there. Say that one more time. What has to happen? I mean, nothing really crazy. It's just, you know, just going through, you know, progressions and, you know, just hitting an open receiver. And, you know, sometimes it can get there, sometimes not. It's just all on the execution and all 11 guys just doing what they need to do to, you know, complete the play. So, you know, that's the difficult thing about the offense. You know, if one guy is not on the same page as the rest of the offense, then, you know, the play kind of goes down. But, you know, if all 11 is doing their job and, you know, we've been doing the whole week of practice, then, you know, we're able to hit those plays and hit those throws. So it's going to happen for sure. Yeah, very fortunate. You know, we're definitely lucky to have a defense like that to, you know, cause some pressures and cause turnovers to give us the ball back and give us that close field. So it's definitely tough on the offensive side not being able to finish some drives and with touchdowns instead of three points. We have a great kicker in Will and kind of bails us out sometimes as well. So we just got to come together as an offense, figure it out, and just score and finish the drives. There are definitely plays throughout the drives that are great and get the ball rolling, but we just got to finish. Yeah and no. It kind of helps with having that defense and, you know, having the ability to, you know, not really get outscored. So it's not really too much on the offensive side of the ball that is being asked for. But, you know, we can't rely on the defense every single game. You know, the offense has got to come prepared and come ready to play and score points. At the end of the day, that's what we've got to do, and we've got to help the defense out sometimes. I mean, I kind of put it on everybody's shoulders. I put it on, you know, the whole entire offense to come prepared. You know, we feel like we have the guys in that room to make the plays and be one of the best offenses in the league. So it's just all about execution. It's all about the preparation throughout the week. And it's all about just doing what we got to do to get the job done every single play. Yeah, no. I mean, I would hope that I got, you know, a little less of the two highs and safety help. But, you know, we got to kind of do better as an offense, as finishing drives, scoring points for the defense to kind of switch it up a little bit. So as long as we're not, you know, affecting them in, you know, different ways and kind of getting them on their toes, then they're not going to switch anything up. So we've got to do a better job as an offense to executing our plays, finishing drives, and making them switch things up. It seems like there were times earlier in your career where you were having big numbers, but you weren't necessarily winning. Right, right. And, you know, that's something that you kind of have to, you know, be in the middle. in you know obviously you want to have high production obviously you know you want to be in the top category in all all categories but you have to look at the bigger picture and understand that you know we're six and over winning games and what we're doing right now is working obviously there's things to do better and things to you know kind of fix on the offensive side of things but all in all it's coming together and we're doing things to win games so how do you weigh that with which you're talking about, and the record, not just with the offense, but with you. Like, if you look at your stats, they're in places you don't see your stats. Most receivers would get upset about that and say something. Like, privately, are you pushing for something? It's just, it feels weird to see you so far below somebody's name in the statistics. Oh, yeah. Just like I said, trust me, I definitely would love the production. I would love to be at the top of all of those categories. But we're winning games, and, you know, what we're doing right now is working. And, you know, obviously, you know, you cut on that tape and you see us running open and you see the plays that could be made out there. We just got to finish those plays and execute at the highest ability. So, you know, the production thing, it comes and goes. You know, it all depends on how they're covering me, how, you know, the defense is playing us. You know, just like I said earlier, if one person messes up on the offensive side of the ball, the play kind of gets messed up. You know, other than, you know, on defense, it kind of doesn't have that same effect. So, it's a lot of things that go into, you know, that production level. And also, you know, I pretty much missed two games also this year. So, you know, you got to weigh in that as well. So, it's not really too much on being frustrated or, you know, just kind of going to the higher ups and asking for the ball. It's just all about executing our plays and coming prepared every single day. You know how important it is for, yeah, Yeah, for sure. Yeah, for sure. You know, it's kind of, I definitely would love winning games over then, you know, having that production. You know, I just, just like you said, you know, there was definitely years before where I had that production and not winning games. You know, so it's definitely an in-between feeling on, you know, you want to be the best player in the league and you want to have that production to show you are the best player in the league. But, you know, we're winning games and, you know, we're the only team undefeated in the league. So that's kind of something that you kind of got to take initiative in and just kind of sit back and just, you know, play my role and be there whenever they need to be. And whenever those plays do come to me, make the most of them. The pressures, obviously. Obviously the pressures. But all in all, I mean, they have great players all around the room. I mean, they have a great D-line and DT and ends on the outsides. and obviously we've got the big guys in the middle. And then our secondary is top tier. And obviously adding Harry in at the late start of it, it just all corresponds and it's all, you know, they're a tight-knit group. You know, they're all bonded together. They all play for one another. And they are all out there having fun playing with each other. So it's definitely a joy to watch. It's definitely entertaining seeing all the amount of interceptions, interceptions the amount of turnovers that they're they're getting us the ball you know we just got to do a better job on the offensive side to finishing those plays finishing those drives and you know creating more of a momentum that then they're already creating for us thank you appreciate it marvel at your success with your performance no uh like i i'm pleased with the performance uh pleased with the performance of our our defense but like not satisfied yet and I think it's just because of the mentality myself and the rest of the guys in our defense carry ourselves with. And it's like, for instance, that PBU I had on third down, I think it was a double slant, tipped it. Like, if I was one-tenth of a step faster or just played the second window, because downs, number two, is like a big target for them, I probably would have picked it off and walked into the end zone. So I start looking at the film as, hey, what are the good plays we made, but how can they be? You also could have picked out that last one, though, and taken it from Harrison. No, I'm kidding. Well, at first, as it was soaring over my fingers, I'm like, damn, I could have got another one, at least a PBU. And then when Harry picked it off, I'm like, no, I'm glad. I'm glad I didn't because I wanted him to get that 40 so bad. He admitted he was too. Yeah. Blake, Brian Flores was saying this today. He vibrated for every business. Kind of brought a lot of energy to his group, and I think he had a strong game against the Colts. What do you see from him in terms of his progress that he's made over these last couple of years and his impact? Well, he's definitely been one of our top guys on defense that over the past year has developed and grown a lot, really solidified himself in his role and has played at a consistent high level. I think with Levi, he always brings a lot of energy, effort, physicality, which we want out of our guys on defense. but his knowledge of the game and his assignments in our scheme, he's played very consistent there, and I think that's why he tends to show up weekly making plays because in this defense, sometimes you don't know who it's going to be week to week, but as long as you just do your job, good things will happen. You guys probably especially have dropped in the coverage as well as you have in the season. What's the process like of how long you can wait, how long you can simulate that rush before dropping in the coverage? Well, it's nice when you're down there with Gink because he draws a lot of attention, stresses offensive linemen They have to account for him, but there's a lot of dialogue throughout the play, just you know talking about our you know our coverage or where our landmark is or who we're dropping to but also if there's some kind of stunt or game on but Gink he he's one of our smartest players I think on this team and so just being down there with him he's he's listening to their calls and this and that so he just adds so much value when you're out there and it really makes guys like me who play around him your job so much easier. When you first got here, was that fit pretty immediate to you? I would say I came in with a very open mindset because this was by far the craziest defensive scheme I had ever been a part of and you know some of the stuff we did made a lot of sense but some of it too I I felt almost like lost right away because I needed like some real reps to see it come to life and I think I said this a long time ago but I remember the exact day when I was like ah it clicks like I understand how this defense works and that's when we actually started going against another team when we three years ago had joint practice against Cleveland and I saw just the frustration, the stress that it causes, offenses, and they just have to account for everybody, and it allows you to kind of, I guess, play faster and anticipate things. It would seem like there's that process of kind of having to almost unlearn things because it is so different than other defenses you might have been in. Is that something that took you a while to say, all of these ways I've played in the past, I have to trust something completely different now? I do think you have to break some of those tendencies and stuff that you've learned and developed if you're going to be in this defense just because it can be so different, but we have a good group here. We have great coaches that teach it well, so that developmental time and OTA's training camp, we get a lot of good work in, and I thought this past offseason was our best work, and I think that's why it's showing up on Sundays right now. What's that step from, I mean, since you got here, it could either be good, but what's been the step in your mind for being really good to be? I think, well, I think having, you know, a lot of guys that have played in the scheme and have that experience, if you ask me, experience is the most valuable thing in this league. And also just understanding how this scheme can maybe limit an offensive menu. And it allows you to play faster because you can anticipate certain runs or certain route concepts. So you understand what spot on the field you need to be and how fast you need to get there. Did you have the green dot before? In Houston, yeah. Yeah, my last year there. Just with Jared Goff, how have you seen him evolve just over the couple of years? Well, he's a challenging quarterback to play against. obviously just the familiarity of seeing him twice a year he's got a lot of looks against our defense but just the cat and mouse game that we play in our scheme like he's a quarterback that's up there kind of orchestrating things and trying to get them in the most sound protection and the best call so when you play a guy like Jared Goff like you just really have to be great with your communication but everybody's got to be so detailed and the timing has to be be perfect