Did refs blow it? Justin Jefferson says 'give me my TD'
It'll be interesting to see if the NFL comes back Monday and says the officials incorrectly ruled Justin Jefferson out of bounds when it appeared that he may have stay in the field of play and ran into the end zone for a long touchdown.
Because he was ruled out, the play was stopped and it couldn't be challenged. It resulted in a 38-yard gain and the Vikings scored four plays later to cut the deficit to 31-23 with 2:50 left in the game, but if Jefferson was in bounds and was allowed to score, it would've been a touchdown with approximately 3:30 to play.
How big might that have been? It could've meant avoiding an onside kick, which led to Detroit getting great field position and they eventually put the game out of reach with a field goal.
It still would've been up to the defense to get the ball back and have the offense score another touchdown and get a two-point conversation just to tie the game, but more time on the clock would've made the situation less harrowing for the Vikings.
Jefferson saw the replay and tweeted: "give me my TD maneeee."
😐😐give me my TD maneeee https://t.co/U7JXZOrNXx
— JJETS✈️ (@JJettas2) December 11, 2022
In the limited replays shown on the TV broadcast it's hard to say for sure Jefferson stayed in bounds, but if his back heal didn't touch the white sideline then the refs blew it and hurt the Vikings' slim chances of coming all the way back to tie the game.
What's more is that it took 32 yards from Jefferson. Even without those yards he finished the game with 11 receptions for 223 yards, putting his season totals at 99 receptions and 1,500 yards.
He's currently on pace to finish with 1,961 yards, just three shy of Calvin Johnson's single-season record 1,964 set in 2012 (Johnson did it in 16 games). With those extra 32 yards, Jefferson would be on pace to break the record.
Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.