Justin Jefferson of the Vikings avoids a “significant” injury, and Josh Dobbs was taken off the field.
After going to a nearby hospital to treat a chest injury he got in the first half of the Vikings’ 3-0 win over the Raiders, wide Justin Jefferson will go home with the team.
Kevin O’Connell, the Vikings’ coach, said after the game that Jefferson was sent for more tests to make sure he didn’t have any major internal injuries after being hit by Raiders safety Marcus Epps.
Jefferson got back to Allegiant Field by the conclusion of the game, but it’s still not clear if he’ll be ready for action next Saturday toward the Cincinnati Bengals.
Jefferson’s absence was a big reason why the Vikings couldn’t score until Greg Joseph made a 36-yard kick with 1:57 left in the game.
It had the fewest points ever scored in an NFL indoor game, and it was the first one to end 3-0 since 2007.
Josh Dobbs was relieved by backup qb Nick Mullens in the middle of the fourth quarter. Mullens led the Vikings’ winning drive.
O’Connell said he wasn’t ready to name a starting quarterback yet because he needed to look at the injuries another three players got on Sunday.
These included Jefferson, right tackle Brian O’Neill (ankle), as well as running back Alexander Mattison (ankle).
Jefferson hurt himself when he jumped onto a high pass from Dobbs as well as Epps hit him heavily after a 15-yard catch with 9:54 left in the second quarter.
Jefferson grabbed the lower part of his back and ran off the field right away. He snagged two passes out of three targets, going 27 yards, and played 13 snaps in all.
He was playing within the first game since Week 5 when he hurt his right leg and had missed seven games. He didn’t start on Sunday, but he ran out to the playing surface for the second play.
Jefferson got off to a great start this season, getting an NFL-high 135.8 yards per game in the first four weeks.
At that rate, by Week 15, Jefferson would have smashed Calvin Johnson’s record of 1,964 receiving yards in a single season.
Jefferson is only at 571 yards because of his hamstring injury. This season, Tyreek Hill for the Miami Dolphins (1,481 yards) possesses the best chance to break Johnson’s mark.
It didn’t make sense to think that O’Connell would be the following coach to win a game this way, especially since the Vikings were looking forward to the game after taking a week off to fix their offense as well as welcome back Justin Jefferson.
But there he was in the visiting locker room at Allegiant Stadium, telling the truth about how the Vikings are doing right now and how they need to win.
He then told the room that every defensive player as well as coach would get a game ball. “Let me just tell you something: This defense constitutes a championship defense,” he said.
“I believe I can be a good coach, caller, or whatever you prefer to call it, because I know that sometimes you have to let the strength for your team guide you.”
You guys made a play every single time. I think it’s great that you guys made plays every time we were in a tough spot on the road.
Greg Joseph scored the only points of the game on a 36-yard field goal with 1 minute and 57 seconds left on Sunday.
On the next offensive play, undrafted rookie defender Ivan Pace Jr. picked away Aidan O’Connell, ending any chance of a comeback.
It was the first 3-0 NFL game since November 26, 2007, when the Steelers trounced the Dolphins on a field that was so wet that Brandon Fields’ punt in the third quarter dug a hole in the ground and stopped there, like a golf golf shot.
The weather wasn’t like that on Sunday because the game was inside, but the Vikings’ offensive stars were hurt and their passing game wasn’t working right, so they’d need a strong defense to shut out the other team.
They missed eight out of twenty third downs, threw for only 99 yards, and had two plays that went more than 40 yards. Before the break, the team lost two close games because they let last-minute scoring runs happen.
“On offense, we tried to get past some heath problems but just didn’t have a good day of pitching, catching, or keeping drives going.
“We relied on them a lot,” Kevin O’Connell said. “Certainly, we are all capable of getting better on offense, but if you can win the turnover battle as well as your defense acts the way they did, you’ve got an opportunity to win in this league.”