Participating in last weekend’s game against the Vikings, the Jacksonville Jaguars had primarily played man guard and single-high safety defense this season. But that changed when Justin Jefferson and the Minnesota offense took the field. The Jaguars completely shuffled their defense, playing two high safeties on 93 percent of their snaps to prevent Jefferson from beating them with explosive plays.

This worked in the sense that Jefferson was held to a season-low 48 yards on five catches, snapping a seven-game streak with at least 80 yards. He had a long gain of just 15 and Sam Darnold threw three interceptions while targeting his No. 1 receiver. In other respects it didn’t quite work; The Vikings totaled 402 yards and 28 first downs on 82 offensive plays, racking up the most time of possession (42:19) in a single game in the NFL this season. Despite Darnold’s turnovers, Minnesota survived the match with a 12-7 victory.

“They played almost a high (defensive) majority of the season,” Jefferson said. “And once we got there, they changed their entire defense. That’s what I’ve been saying all season long, it doesn’t really matter how defenses play other teams. Once we step into that, on the field, the entire defense changes, there’s more bullet coverage, it’s a lot more two-level.” And that’s something we have to deal with.”

To be clear, this is not a new or groundbreaking strategy. Teams used two-high bullets, safety help, double teams and all kinds of protection against Jefferson throughout his prolific career. Kevin O’Connell is used to No.18 being the main focus of the defense week in and week out. But the Jaguars seemed to lean into that more than anyone else this season. And since they were able to slow down Jefferson and get three interceptions, other teams (like the Titans this weekend) can follow suit and stick with this plan.

When the Vikings see these looks, they must adapt and come up with a plan of their own. More often than not, that means taking what the defense gives them. That means joining the running game with Aaron Jones, who had 101 yards from scrimmage against the Jaguars. That means using advantageous looks from the middle of the field for players like TJ Hockenson and Josh Oliver, who combined for 124 yards on 12 catches. There are still ways to scheme to look for Jefferson and Jordan Addison against two high shells, but if defenses are going to be exhausted trying to eliminate explosive passes on the outside, the Vikings must be content to move the ball downfield on a regular basis. .

“If teams want to guard us deep and let us cut things short and let the run game explode, then that’s what we need to do, that’s what we need to do,” Jefferson said. “We can’t get greedy and try to force passes into stud coverage and two-high (looks).”

“For me personally, it’s important to take what the defense gives me,” Darnold said. “Obviously it’s a cliché, but there’s a reason. If they want to play from deep to short in the first and second innings, they just have the mentality of finding completions. But at the same time, if there’s anything we can do to get over that coverage, let it rip and have all the confidence in the world doing it be.”

The numbers confirm the idea that two high bullets were the way to slow Jefferson down. He’s been much more effective against single looks this season, according to Next Gen Stats. For example, on Darnold’s first interception, Jaguars cornerback Tyson Campbell was able to get very physical while keeping Jefferson off the line of scrimmage because he knew he had safety support behind him. When Darnold still tried to hit Jefferson obliquely, Campbell was able to deflect the ball into the air for a pick. The third interception occurred on a corner route that was dropped too far inside and was undercut by split safety Darnell Savage.

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Again, there are ways for the Vikings to move Jefferson and get the ball to him despite those looks, but it’s much harder to get over the top of the defense and set up explosives on the edge. At the same time, these rounds provide opportunities to drive the ball effectively and target weak spots in front of safeties in the middle of the field. The Vikings’ two longest plays in Jacksonville were a 28-yard seam ball to Oliver and a 26-yard catch-and-run for Hockenson, who was too fast to be covered by a defender.

Of course, Jefferson wants to continue putting up big numbers, but he’s also happy to be the center of attention on defense if it means his teammates can succeed and the Vikings can move the ball.

“It happens sometimes,” said Jefferson, who is second in the league this year with 831 yards in nine games. “Teams try to take away the main weapons in attack. And I can’t get angry in situations like this. We all eat and perform as one team. So as long as we move the ball and we score goals and put points on the board, my production doesn’t matter, we win and W’ As long as we put things on the board, that’s all that really matters.”

The Jaguars’ strategy prevented Jefferson from making a big play, but the Vikings had four drives lasting at least 12 plays, with three of them covering 68-plus yards. Had they not tried so hard to score — they threw three interceptions and at least settled for four field goals in seven drives to the Jacksonville 30-yard line — Sunday’s game might have been a blowout. Every defensive approach has risks against an attack with the weapons the Vikings had.

“There’s an attempt to come up with a release plan for Justin, and there’s the entire team defense against Justin,” O’Connell said. “Give them credit, they were willing to sacrifice time of possession, the running game, tight ends down the middle of the field and things like that. And if we don’t turn the ball over, maybe they’ll look back (and think) ‘was that really the best way to do it?'”