Calling It ‘Fluke,’ Packers Avoiding Week 1 Film vs. Vikings’ Jefferson

To keep their playoff hopes alive, the Green Bay Packers must figure out a way to stop Justin Jefferson, the Minnesota Vikings' superstar receiver.

Author:
Bill Huber
Publish date:
Dec 29, 2022 6:30 PM EST

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Green Bay Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. – In Week 1, the Minnesota Vikings beat the Green Bay Packers 23-7 as Justin Jefferson caught nine passes for 184 yards and two touchdowns.

“I don’t really remember that game,” cornerback Rasul Douglas said.

He saw no point in watching it to spark his memory.

“I didn’t [watch it] either,” fellow cornerback Jaire Alexander said.

Why?

“Bad taste in my mouth,” Alexander said. “I’d rather focus on how we’ve been doing now and keeping the energy we’ve been having.”

Jefferson has left a lot of bad tastes in mouths during his first three NFL seasons. He leads the league with 123 receptions for 1,756 yards. Incredibly, in 48 career games, he’s topped 100 yards 24 times. That includes 10 of this year’s 15 games.

“He don’t jump in no super suit and get dressed and jump outside,” Alexander said. “I don’t either, sometimes. But he’s human is what I’m saying. We ain’t putting too much on nobody. He’s a really good receiver. But, at the end of the day, I’m a really good corner, we’ve got really good corners, we’ve got really good linebackers. D-line. Whatever it is. You don’t want to put too much focus on that one person because it’s like, the first game, that was a fluke.”

A fluke? That might be an eye-opening phrase to Jefferson. Last week, he became the sixth player in NFL history with three consecutive games of 10-plus catches for 100-plus yards. His 4,772 career receiving yards are 609 more than any other player in his first three seasons. Only two others have topped 4,000 yards; Jefferson has a chance to get to 5,000.

The dominance – regardless of opponent – is ridiculous. New England’s Bill Belichick is one of the greatest defensive minds in NFL history. In Week 12, Jefferson caught nine passes for 139 yards and one touchdown. Buffalo’s Sean McDermott is another top defensive coach and his depth chart is loaded with talent. In Week 10, Jefferson caught 10 passes for 193 yards and one touchdown.

Alexander considered former teammate Davante Adams the best receiver in the league, with Jefferson and Miami's Jaylen Waddle battling for No. 2. Douglas called Adams the best but wouldn’t argue with anyone who chose Jefferson, instead.

“It’s like [Rams receiver] Cooper Kupp from last year. They’ve got that same offense,” Douglas said. “We seen what Cooper Kupp did last year and now they’ve got Justin Jefferson doing it and we see what he’s doing now.”

Coordinator Joe Barry’s defense, belatedly as it may be, appears to be ascending at the right time. With Alexander and Douglas leading the way, the Packers have six interceptions the past three games. They had only five picks in the first nine games. During their three-game winning streak, they’ve allowed passer ratings of 75.7, 62.4 and 78.2. Going back further, Green Bay has yielded sub-60 percent completion rates five times in the last eight games.

“I don’t think none of us are satisfied,” Douglas said. “I think we still have more to go but, yeah, we’re trending the right way, so we’ll take that.”

Certainly trending the right way since Week 1, when Kirk Cousins completed 71.9 percent of his passes for 269 yards and the two touchdowns to Jefferson. Jefferson caught 6-of-7 targets for 158 yards in the first half alone. Afterward, some of the defensive backs grumbled about Barry’s plan.

Barry viewed it as constructive criticism.

“If things don’t go well and you lose and they’re OK with it, those aren’t the type of guys that you want,” Barry said on Thursday. “Now then, I think it’s the job of the coach to say ‘OK, let’s relax. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. Let’s go back to the drawing board, let’s go back to the practice field and let’s just keep chopping wood and keep grinding.’ That’s the type of guys that we have, and we have great guys because they do want to win, they’re pissed off when we don’t win.”

After Barry’s game plan was set ablaze by Cousins and Jefferson, the Packers have changed since Week 1. That, more than anything, is why that film might be irrelevant. It’s not so much the negative vibes as the fact a lot has changed during the 110 days between kickoffs.

Even studious veteran safety Adrian Amos didn’t see the point in watching it again.

“Some of the plays are in cut-ups but I haven’t just sat and watched the whole first game again,” he said. “A lot has happened since then in terms of what they’re doing now and what we’re doing now, too. A lot of stuff is different and a lot of stuff we played, a lot of rules that we have, are different, too.”