Analysis: Vikings finding ways to free Justin Jefferson in split-safety coverage

SEATTLE – The play that produced Justin Jefferson’s game-winning touchdown at Lumen Field on Sunday wasn’t necessarily meant to go to him.

The Vikings lined up with Jefferson as one of three receivers on the left side of the formation, before motioning Jalen Nailor and Jordan Addison to the right side and leaving Jefferson alone.

Coach Kevin O’Connell had talked with quarterback Sam Darnold about how the ball could go to Addison or T.J. Hockenson on the front side of the play, if the Seahawks “wanted to shove coverage over” to Jefferson.

”That was kind of a first on a pretty standard concept with a little window dressing or sauce on it, to make things look the same,” O’Connell said Sunday in Seattle after the Vikings’ 27-24 victory. “Justin has an innate feel for open grass and to go find it and to be so decisive with it that the quarterback feels it as he climbs the pocket, and you need a guy that can make that throw on the move in the pocket.

“To place it where he did, what a moment.”

Jefferson “got such a clean, good release on the inside” of cornerback Riq Woolen, and drove his route toward the sideline, away from safety Julian Love (who’d turned his hips toward the middle of the field). Darnold saw the same thing, and put the ball toward the sideline without setting his feet while he evaded pressure.

“‘Jets’ is doing a great job of feeling that zone, and feeling the cloud [corner], to get a little bit of width to get away from the safety,” Darnold said. “I felt like I needed to give him a shot, put it on his back hip and let him do the rest.”

The play produced the game-winning 39-yard touchdown, delivered the Vikings’ first victory in Seattle since 2006 and kept them in line for home-field advantage in the NFC if they win their final two games. It also stood out as an example of the Vikings’ ability to find answers against the split-safety coverage teams use to take Jefferson away.

Save for a 5-yard reception in the red zone, Jefferson caught all of his passes against split-safety coverage, posting 139 yards and scoring twice on nine catches where the Seahawks kept two safeties deep, according to NFL Next Gen Stats.

Entering Week 16, he’d posted 70 of his 82 catches against zone coverage (the third most in the league, according to Next Gen Stats). In his past four games, he’s caught 31 passes for 448 yards, and scored five touchdowns in the past three games.

During Jefferson’s Offensive Player of the Year season in 2022, O’Connell raved about routes like the one the receiver ran for a touchdown in a Week 16 win over the Giants, where he snapped off a route in front of safety Jason Pinnock for a key fourth-quarter score.

Against the Falcons two weeks ago, he split two defenders off motion and beat Dee Alford for a 12-yard score that started his TD run.

“Over three years of being defended so many different ways, he’s seen it all at this point,” O’Connell said Monday at TCO Performance Center. “[The plays are] not just lines on paper anymore. There’s an organic adjustment to some of the things we’re doing that has opened up part of the field for us. Sometimes we’re attacking it, other times we’re not.

“But when we need that play, we can stack all the information gathered that day on top of the thousands upon thousands of reps of building that rapport, so those guys can make those plays in those moments.”

On Sunday, it was clear Jefferson had the connection with Darnold to counter how the Seahawks wanted to defend him.

In the third quarter, Darnold hit Jefferson for a 27-yard gain on a deep crossing route, drifting to his left and throwing an on-the-move strike to Jefferson, who beat Josh Jobe across the field after Jalen Nailor’s presnap motion changed the Seahawks’ coverage rules and gave Jefferson inside leverage on Jobe while Jordan Addison’s deep route occupied the safeties.

And the 39-yard score, Darnold said, was the result of the skills the Vikings’ defense forces him and Jefferson to practice. The range of the Vikings’ coverages means Darnold and Jefferson spend plenty of time trying to decipher coverage together and make sure they’re seeing things the same way. O’Connell said Sunday he wants Darnold and Jefferson “to have some freedom in those moments, especially,” to extrapolate beyond a play design based on what they’re getting from defenses.

Their adjustments, though, aren’t backyard football. Their practice time is spent making sure Jefferson can adjust his route to a coverage without Darnold having to scrap the timing of a play.

“It’s got to be something where there’s freedom and there’s some nuances to Justin being able to do the things he does, but at the same time, it’s got to fit with the progression and the eyes of the quarterback,” O’Connell said Monday.

“And that’s where we’ve tried to grow. Whether it’s a core concept and we’re just making little tweaks to it, or it’s a brand-new concept for the week, nothing doesn’t go through the filter of, ‘Is this going to be playable?’ Because that’s my number one pet peeve: to go back to that moment and say, with the clicker [reviewing the film] this morning, ‘Hey, why didn’t you throw it here or there?’ I just don’t believe in that.”

On Sunday, the Vikings’ careful adaptations produced season highs for Jefferson in catches and yards, to go with his second two-TD game in three weeks. A month after the receiver seemed to tire of questions about what defenses had done to limit him, the Vikings appear to have found the answers.

“We’re coming together,” Jefferson said Sunday. “We’re finding different ways to overcome adversity, overcome the different stuff that defenses have been throwing towards us. Sam has done a great job leading our offense. It’s the coaches calling plays, and us just making something work.”