Justin Jefferson on Vikings Comeback Win Over Bears & J.J. McCarthy’s Composure and Leadership

Justin Jefferson on Vikings Comeback Win Over Bears & J.J. McCarthy’s Composure and Leadership

Chill, man. How heavy that time is for Hey, week one, I got to come correct. Justin, how much is it just a learned behavior that you guys know even if not a lot’s gone right, as long as the clock is not at zero, you’re going to have a chance? Yeah, I feel like uh plenty of times, you know, throughout me being here, um you know, we had adversity hit, you know, a couple of times and uh us just not, you know, weighing our heads down and uh kind of just fighting every single play. And uh that’s definitely what we did today. You know, first half uh didn’t go the way we wanted it to go. We was like 0 and eight in third downs. Uh definitely not something that we want to want to put on tape. Uh but uh you know that second half uh you know talking to everybody in this in this room. Uh and just hearing everybody’s composure, everybody wanting to go out there and still fight and uh that’s all that matters. Um, and scoring 21 points in the fourth quarter is very difficult, especially with a rookie quarterback. So, uh, I mean, it’s it’s definitely, you know, a lot to learn, a lot to, you know, look at, but, uh, I’m proud of the guys fighting today and just, you know, uh, staying on the course. Did you learn anything about your quarterback today? No, I I already knew I already knew what JJ was about. It’s just all about showing the world that, uh, you know, we we know him coming from Michigan, being a national champion. uh we knew we he had that dog in him. Uh and really today seeing his composure and seeing uh his grit and uh seeing him lead the team uh you know even when we were down uh it it goes a long way when he came in that huddle and he said wouldn’t you guys no other place you rather be? What did that do for you guys in that huddle at that time? Juice us up. Honestly, uh to hear our quarterback, you know, have those words and kind of lead us in that type of way uh is definitely something that we need. you know, not not every time you hear uh JJ, you know, be that type of guy, but today, you know, game day when the lights are when the lights are shining, uh he knows how to come to work and he knows how to have that dog mentality and uh he never gave up. That was the big thing about it. Uh and he just kept going play after play. Uh not really relying on, not really thinking on the interception that he had. Uh just all about focusing on the next play. Coach Oonnell said that he told him at halftime that he was going to go out and lead this team to a comeback win. Did you have that same sentiment and and why does this team believe so much in a guy who was making his first start? Yeah, for sure. You know, even looking back on it, uh just like I said, we was 0 and8 in third downs. So, that’s never something that uh we’re comfortable with. Uh but to to say we had that type of performance our first half and only still was down 11, uh that goes to show you we had a lot more juice left in the tank. Uh and it’s just all about going out there and executing one play at a time. Uh we have the ultimate confidence in JJ uh to go out there and perform the way that he did the second half. Uh we just got to start off earlier. What do you have to say about your defense and the way they were able to keep you guys in the game? That’s normal at this point. Uh you know, coming off of last year, seeing the the different plays that they were making last year, uh adding some additions on to to this year’s team, uh we knew that we’re we’re going to get those opportunities. We knew that uh the defense was either going to get a turnover or a good stop. So, they had plenty of those. So, uh it’s just all about going out there, executing our plays one play at a time. Uh and I’m just glad that, you know, our offense, especially our offense, uh kept our head up, not really looking back on, uh how the first half went. Uh we just kept fighting. Justin, did you say anything to JJ personally to try to get him to settle in? Yeah. Um, you know, being a leader of this team, uh I I’m trying to, you know, fit in more of that vocal role. uh you know just trying to give a uh you know a a he say she say uh trying to give a word to uh JJ and the rest of the guys. Uh but JJ was poised the whole time. I didn’t really need to say anything to JJ. Uh JJ already had that look in his eyes that he was going to go out there and keep fighting. So uh it’s just all about the rest of the 10 guys that’s going out there behind him uh fighting with him. Justin, how much of the struggle in the first half did you feel like was you guys execution or them showing you stuff that maybe you guys Nah, it was more I feel like more on execution than it was u what they were showing us. Uh I mean they weren’t really showing us nothing, you know, we haven’t seen before. Um we knew where we we’re going to get the shell. We know I’m going to get doubled some of the times. So uh it’s all about winning our one-on-one matchups and u you know once we look at that film, we won a lot of times on that one-on-one matchups. Uh we just got to get the ball to the hands and uh let everything happens itself. Did you see the read option touchdown live and what was your reaction to the celebration that was after that? I seen it live. I mean, I didn’t really CC the whole thing until JJ, you know, start starting getting past the end zone, but um I feel like the amount of energy and juice that we had once he scored that that touchdown, uh I definitely was hitting him a couple times on the head. Um, but uh that’s the that’s the juice that we kind of need every single play uh even in the first quarter. Uh but I’m just glad that that JJ got in the end zone for for me to have, you know, JJ’s first uh passing touchdown. Uh but uh it’s it’s definitely definitely some good things to look on this game, but uh it’s a lot of things that we got to look back on and correct as well. You letting him keep that football? Nah, it’s my football. I’m joking. I’m joking. N it’s definitely that’s definitely um you know something that he can keep uh for a very long time uh especially in his house that he got. So so it’s it’s definitely special to to be one of his uh first touchdowns, but it’s going to be plenty more to come.

Minnesota Vikings WR Justin Jefferson addressed the media after the team’s Week 1 27-24 win over the Chicago Bears.

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