Minnesota Vikings star Justin Jefferson had a tough go last week against the Seattle Seahawks.
The 26-year-old phenom was held to two catches for a career-low 4 yards in a 26-0 shutout loss to the Seahawks. The Vikings offense struggled with undrafted rookie quarterback Max Brosmer under center.
Jefferson’s frustrations were evident throughout the game, but he reached his boiling point in the third quarter.
With the Vikings down by 19 points, Jefferson caught a pass from Brosmer and was corralled by Seahawks rookie safety Emmanwori, who body-slammed Jefferson to the ground. Jefferson popped up and shoved Emmanwori before several Vikings players separated Jefferson and Emmanwori.
Emmanwori was flagged for unnecessary roughness on the play, making the play subject to review by the NFL, which hands down fines weekly as part of its gameday accountability program.
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The NFL announced its fines for Week 13 on Saturday, and while the league delivered a season-high 22 fines for unnecessary roughness, Emmanwori’s name was nowhere to be found. The fines for unnecessary roughness ranged from $5,996 to $46,371, dealt to Kansas City Chiefs running back Isaiah Pacheco for use of the helmet. No players from the Vikings-Seahawks game were fined.
Admittedly frustrated after the game, Jefferson declined comment to media members for the first time in his career and left the locker room early. He addressed the matter in his weekly news conference on Thursday.
“I knew I was going to talk to you guys today, so,” he said. “The frustration and the emotions was definitely high after the game.
“We lost, obviously. I just feel like it’s the same thing. I’m going to be sitting there telling you guys the same exact thing that I said the past few weeks. The offense needs to get better. We need to focus, execute, all the things that we had been saying the whole season.”
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As the Seahawks advanced to 9-3 on the season, the Vikings are toiling at 4-8 and still searching for the answer to elevating quarterback J.J. McCarthy, who returns from concussion protocol this week.
“Of course, I hate being in this situation, losing these games, but there’s gonna be better times. There’s gonna be a time where people put on their TV, and they’re talking all about us. Jump on our bandwagon.”
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