Some new benchmarks in team history
In their blowout victory over the Atlanta Falcons in Week 14, Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison both found themselves making history in various ways, both in Minnesota Vikings franchise history and NFL history.
We’ll start with Jefferson, who passed the 7,000-yard mark in receiving yardage for his career. He is now the first player in the history of the National Football League to pass 7,000 receiving yards in his first five NFL seasons, and he’s also the first receiver in league history to hit that mark before the age of 26 (he turns 26 next June). Just a couple more accolades for the NFL’s best wide receiver.
Jefferson now has 7,069 career receiving yards, putting him 567 yards behind Anthony Carter for third place in franchise history. To catch Carter this season, he’d have to average about 142 yards/game over the season’s last four weeks. It’s a long shot, but given Jefferson’s talents it can’t necessarily be counted out.
As far as the pairing of Jefferson and Addison, they did something that no pair of wide receivers had ever done in franchise history prior to today. Jefferson’s 132 yards and two touchdowns today, along with Addison’s 133 yards and three touchdowns, marked the first time in franchise history that a pair of Vikings wide receivers put up over 100 yards and two touchdowns in the same game.
Not Cris Carter and Randy Moss, and not Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen. Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison set that mark.
Now, this is the second time in franchise history that two players had put together 100 yards and two touchdowns receiving in a game, but the first time it involved a tight end. That happened when Steve Jordan and Hassan Jones each went for at least 100 and two in a 42-7 victory over Green Bay back in September of 1986. Tommy Kramer had six touchdown passes that day at the Metrodome.
The Vikings have one of the best wide receiver tandems in the National Football League, and Addison is really starting to make teams pay for focusing too much of their attention on Jefferson. The Minnesota offense looks like it’s starting to get on a roll at the right time, and their receiving corps is a huge part of that.
