Jefferson Slices Through Packers’ Touted Secondary

Kept away from star cornerback Jaire Alexander, Justin Jefferson dismantled the Packers for 184 yards and two touchdowns on Sunday.

MINNEAPOLIS – The Green Bay Packers talked the talk throughout August. Justin Jefferson walked the walk on Sunday.

The Packers talked throughout training camp about having the best cornerbacks and best secondary in the NFL. On Sunday, the Minnesota Vikings’ elite receiver destroyed them for nine catches for 184 yards and two touchdowns. He trounced Eric Stokes. He riddled zone defenses. He got open short. He got open deep.

He was the difference-maker in the Vikings’ 23-7 victory.

Jaire Alexander had one of the bests seats in the house. Defensive coordinator Joe Barry could have put the NFL’s highest-paid cornerback on Jefferson. He chose not to, at least for the first half. Any adjustments came too late.

“The game plan was to not allow ‘18’ to beat us,” Alexander said. “We did much better in the second half than in the first half. Why I wasn’t on him, that’s not my call. Anybody who watches me play, you know that’s what I want. But we played him much better in the second half, but in the first half he looked like a premier receiver in the league.”

Green Bay’s hyped defense was a paper tiger. Minnesota zoomed right down the field to open the game, with Jefferson catching passes for 20 and 22 yards before the Packers took the play-action bait like an overeager bluegill on Jefferson’s 5-yard touchdown on fourth-and-1.

When Minnesota extended the lead to 10-0 midway through the second quarter, it was Jefferson shooting between safeties Darnell Savage and Adrian Amos for a gain of 64. Minnesota made it 17-0 just before halftime on Jefferson’s 36-yard touchdown. Jefferson caught the ball at the 19 and retreated back a step after catching the ball. It as if he was expecting to get popped. Instead, when he turned around, he would have needed binoculars to see the nearest defender.

“Just miscommunication,” Alexander said. “I should’ve stayed on him. I was expecting help and didn’t get it and shouldn’t have expected it. I should’ve stayed on him when it went over, but we’ve got to tackle and get him down.”

By halftime, Jefferson had six catches for 158 yards and two touchdowns. The Packers had 100 total yards and zero points.

Placing Alexander on Jefferson every play is easier said than done. Barry likes to play zone rather than man. It’s easy to shadow in man; much more difficult in zone.

“It doesn’t necessarily always work that way,” coach Matt LaFleur said. “If you just commit to playing man coverage the whole game, sure, you can do it. But they do a nice job of putting him in different positions, whether it’s in the slot, whether it’s motioning. They put him in premier spots and attacked our coverage well. We had a couple of blown coverages, as well. We’re cutting him loose and if there’s anybody you don’t want to cut loose, it’s No. 18. So, we’ll go back, we’ll look at the tape. Obviously, we have to coach so much better.”

Maybe that means listening to one of his best players.

“All week, asking for that matchup,” Alexander said. “But it ain’t about me. It’s about the team. It ain’t about me. If it was my way, you know what I would be doing.”

Jefferson credited new coach Kevin O’Connell’s scheme for keeping him away from Alexander.

“That’s the thing that I like about our offense,” he said. “We move so much, we have so many players on our offense, you can’t stick to one player. That’s what I like about our offense, our guys that are here, we just have to keep going and keep getting better.”

By game’s end, Jefferson had five plays of 20-plus yards. That’s as many as the Packers.

Jefferson opened the season with a goal of 2,000 receiving yards. He’s on pace for 3,128.

“No better way to start it off than 180, right?” he said.

It was a dismal debut for a Green Bay defense that is filled with high-quality starters but delivered a low-quality performance for the first 30 minutes.

The defense played better in the second half. Following Sunday night’s home opener against the Chicago Bears, the Packers will face the high-flying Buccaneers passing attack.

“Very low,” Alexander categorized his level of concern.

“It’s just like a fight. You get hit in the mouth, you’re either going to back down or you’re going to come out swinging,” he said. “So, I’m not backing down from nothing, so don’t come out swinging, and I expect the defense and the team to do the same thing.”