The Minnesota Vikings struggled to get anything going on offense on Monday night, and Justin Jefferson seemed incredibly frustrated watching his team drop a second straight game.
Jefferson had just three catches in the team’s 23-6 loss to the Buffalo Bills, and at one point was seen “seething” all alone on the Vikings sideline. The star wide receiver hasn’t had a 100-yard outing yet this season.
It’s easy to understand why Jefferson appeared upset. Vikings fans at U.S. Bank Stadium weren’t happy, either.
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Carson Wentz got the start for the injured and also struggling Kyler Murray on Monday. He only completed eight passes on the night and threw two bad interceptions on back-to-back drives. He should have thrown a third, but Terrel Bernard just dropped it in the second half on accident. Wentz’s performance was objectively bad.
At one point, Wentz and the Vikings offense was even hit with a very loud chorus of boos from fans in attendance, something that happened repeatedly throughout the night.
The Vikings are still 6-2 on the season, but they’ve struggled at quarterback between Murray and Wentz. The Vikings defense is among the best in the league, too, and did a good job slowing Josh Allen and a good Bills offense throughout the night. But without a capable offense — Wentz finished with just an 8.9 passer rating — the defensive success doesn’t matter much.
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There has been plenty of speculation that the Vikings will make a move before the trade deadline on Tuesday afternoon, including potentially landing a quarterback to take them the rest of the way. But that, Jefferson said, isn’t his job.
“I’m not sure … that’s their job,” Jefferson said. “My job is to continue to get open, continue to be the leader of the team and come next week, and hopefully things change.”
Justin Jefferson had three catches in the Vikings’ loss to the Bills on Monday night.
(AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell declined to get into that speculation, too, when asked directly if they would make a move for a quarterback before the deadline.
“I’ll defer to [general manager Nolan Teasley] on that,” he said. “We’ve had dialogue about a lot of positions.”
He did, though, rip his team’s performance.
“In no way, shape or form was tonight acceptable,” O’Connell said, via The Athletic’s Alec Lewis. “I told the team that it starts with me. The defense was on the field too much … Just not even close offensively to what we want to be.”
The Vikings don’t have a lot of time to make a legitimate move before the deadline on Tuesday afternoon, and there aren’t a lot of good options for them available at quarterback. The Vikings would probably have to overpay to get anyone worthwhile, too, which only adds to their frustrating situation.
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It’s clear the Vikings offense needs a boost. They didn’t get a first down until the fifth drive of the night on Monday, and Wentz didn’t complete a single pass in the third quarter. Whether anything changes in order for them to take advantage of a 6-0 start, and Jefferson in the prime of his career, is still very much unknown.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
