It’s been a rough couple of days for Kirk Cousins. An overwhelming amount of criticism poured in for both his poor play and his under-the-right-guard gaffe after the loss to the San Francisco 49ers. But media criticism is all part of the job. What was more concerning was the possibility of his top target sharing the fans and media’s frustration.
As the ghost of Stefon Diggs walks through most Vikings fans’ minds anytime any receiver is frustrated with our quarterback, the topic usually gets too much attention.
Eventually, Justin Jefferson himself felt the need to address and completely shut it down:
“It’s just all about knowing who you really are. A lot of people in this building know what type of person I am. So me ‘being a diva’ or ‘wanting too much’ that’s not in my character that’s not who I am. I just love to win, love to compete and love to be a part of this game. I don’t worry about too much of the outside noise. These guys in this room know what’s going on in the huddle and the plays being called. It’s really all the connection with me and Kirk. At the end of the day, as long as we’re on the same page, then we’re all good.”
This has shades of last season when a hot mic caught Jefferson aggressively shouting at Kirk to “throw the damn ball.” Jefferson is an extremely competitive person and these are the sort of things that happen in the heat of battle. Vikings fans should enjoy Jefferson’s aggressive desire to be successful and in no way shape or form worried that he’s heading down a Stefon Diggs path. But also, they should hope that their quarterback throws him the ball more. The team is 5-0 when Jefferson has 7 or more catches and 0-6 when he doesn’t.
