In the opening scene of Receiver Ep. 7, Justin Jefferson sits on an individual couch in Kevin O’Connell’s office, dissecting a disappointing, injury-riddled season. Jefferson only played 10 games due to a hamstring injury against the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 5 and a chest injury in Week 13 against the Las Vegas Raiders.
Worse yet, Kirk Cousins tore his Achilles in Week 8 against the Green Bay Packers, forcing Jefferson to play with three backup quarterbacks: Joshua Dobbs, Nick Mullens, and rookie Jaren Hall. The Vikings traded for Dobbs immediately after Cousins’ season-ending injury, and he became a sensation when he played in Atlanta less than a week after the Vikings acquired him.
Dobbs led the Vikings to a victory over the Atlanta Falcons despite not knowing the playbook, and he followed it up with a win over the New Orleans Saints a week later. However, he faltered against the Denver Broncos and Chicago Bears, and he didn’t play again after Minnesota pulled him in a 3-0 Week 13 win over the Las Vegas Raiders.
Jefferson returned in Week 13 after a seven-week absence, and Dobbs threw a ball high and over the middle to Jefferson in the second quarter. Jefferson reached up and caught the ball. However, Raiders safety Marcus Epps hit him square in the back as he came down. The Netflix footage showed him coughing in the huddle, then spitting blood on the sideline.
Minnesota’s trainers calmly asked if he had bit his lip or tongue, then ushered him into the blue tent. There, they determined he had suffered a “pulmonary contusion,” or a bruised lung. The Vikings put Jefferson in an ambulance. At a hospital in suburban Henderson, Nev., they determined that Jefferson didn’t suffer any broken ribs or a more severe injury such as a collapsed lung.
“Feel pretty encouraged about the early news on Justin,” O’Connell said initially in response to the injury. “We’ll have to see on a short week how’s able to turn over from this.”
Receiver showed Jefferson practicing with what he later called an “internal bruise,” and he played all but three snaps in an overtime loss to the Cincinnati Bengals six days later. Everyone knew he had suffered something serious at the time of the injury, given he left Allegiant Stadium in an ambulance with a chest injury. However, Netflix showed the extent to which he got injured.
Netflix shows Epps’ contact with Jefferson late in Ep. 5. It looks like a hard hit, but it’s unclear that Jefferson had suffered a severe injury in real-time. Netflix had a camera on Jefferson’s parents, John and Elaine, who attended the game. Elaine initially responds to the hit by saying, “Oh, get up, please,” while his father looks on, expressionless.
Jefferson initially grabbed at his back. However, she exclaimed, “Yes, whoo! Yeah, baby!” as he got up with T.J. Hockenson’s help and returned to the huddle. Netflix showed Jefferson briefly standing next to his teammates with his hands on his hips, then removing himself from the game.
“I’m sure they’re gonna check him out,” the announcer said perfunctorily as Jefferson walked off the field, “and make sure he’s okay.”
Jefferson continues to cough as he walks off the field, then squats and spits on the ground once he reaches the sidelines. The Vikings trainer initially asks if he’s winded. Netflix then cuts to Jefferson’s interview with the producer, where he reflects on the situation. “So I went to the sideline, but like, I had to cough,” Jefferson said matter-of-factly. “I don’t know, I had to cough for some reason. So as I’m like coughing, I’m spitting out blood as I’m coughing.”
That’s alarming in any other line of business. However, injuries are a part of the NFL. Receiver showed Deebo Samuel’s recovery from a hairline fracture in his shoulder during the middle of the season. Amon-Ra St. Brown played a game with hand, foot, and mouth disease. Harrison Smith accidentally hit Kittle in the crotch during Minnesota’s Monday night game against the San Francisco 49ers.
“Was it a big target or a small target?” Netflix catches Smith asking Kittle in jest.
After speaking with Jefferson for a few minutes after Epps’ hit in the Vegas game, one of the Vikings trainers identifies the issue as a lung contusion. The trainers bring Jefferson into the tent, where they confirm it’s a lung contusion. Netflix cuts to John Jefferson, who tells Elaine he’s received a text that Jefferson is spitting blood.
“Oh, Lord!” Elaine exclaims, wiping off her brow and standing to find Jefferson on the sideline.
Jefferson gave his parents a thumbs-up as he left the game, but it’s hard to forget their concern as they received the news.
One of the most valuable parts of Netflix’s documentary is humanizing players’ highs and lows. Jefferson’s injury is a microcosm of the NFL experience. Initially, everyone is excited that he made a brilliant catch. However, there’s concern as he grabs his back. Then, excitement as he gets up and returns to the huddle. But there’s concern again as he leaves for the sideline.
Jefferson is mostly upset that he’s injured again. “Are you serious, dog?” he exclaims when recalling the incident.
“This year’s circumstances, I’m hoping, were an outlier and unique,” O’Connell told Jefferson in his office after the season. “I was trying to go back and think about, when’s the last time you missed a football game?”
Jefferson thought for a moment, shaking his head with arms folded. “High school?” he responded.
“Yeah, so I know how hard it was on you,” O’Connell acknowledged. “And then you have to deal with – you come back, you play 12 plays, and you’re in a hospital getting internal scans. And now what we’ve gotta get to, is we gotta get to a place where we’re the same team every Sunday.
“I know you’re the same guy every Sunday, but you’re gonna be a huge help for me getting us to be the same team every Sunday.”
O’Connell leaned back in his chair, hands behind his head, as he spoke with Jefferson. As O’Connell spoke, Jefferson uncrossed his arms and leaned forward. Once O’Connell finished speaking, he allowed a smile and nodded. “Anything you need, brother,” he responded.
Minnesota replaced Dobbs with Mullens midway through the fourth quarter, trying to spark the team. Mullens led the Vikings on their only scoring drive, and they finished the season with Mullens and Hall under center.
It seemed unlikely that Dobbs, the NFL’s most popular player in the middle of the season, would return. The Bears had shown the league that he couldn’t beat teams from the pocket, and the Vikings didn’t want to put Jefferson at risk. After Cousins signed with the Atlanta Falcons in free agency, Minnesota traded up to draft J.J. McCarthy and signed Sam Darnold to a bridge deal.
Seeing Jefferson and O’Connell speak about Jefferson’s injury in the coach’s office after the season is an eerie juxtaposition to the scenes from the event when it took place. O’Connell is leaning back in his chair; Jefferson sits deep in a padded coach. Both acknowledge that they must keep Jefferson healthy and productive for the Vikings to win.
Jefferson’s Week 13 had taken place a month before they spoke. However, they talked about it as casually as a boss and employee would discuss a third-quarter performance review.