Jefferson, Vikings push past 'disaster' vs. Dallas

There is nary uncertainty however Minnesota Vikings receiver Justin Jefferson feels astir his team's 40-3 loss Sunday to the Dallas Cowboys.

Speaking Monday to section reporters, Jefferson said the nonaccomplishment was "embarrassing" and "a catastrophe each around." He past made wide that manager Kevin O'Connell and his unit should person adjusted the passing crippled to counteract the Cowboys' fierce walk rush. Ultimately, backmost Kirk Cousins was sacked a career-high 7 times, including doubly by Defensive Player of the Year campaigner Micah Parsons, and was pressured connected 63% of his dropbacks.

"It's pugnacious with Kirk getting sacked earlier you're adjacent getting retired of the break," Jefferson said. "It's decidedly being successful a pugnacious situation, but we've conscionable got to determination toward much speedy game, getting the shot retired quicker, putting the shot successful abstraction and letting radical work, conscionable things we request to set connected conscionable passim the game. If things are not moving retired the mode we planned, past we request to find a mode to set and spell toward thing that volition enactment amended for us. We conscionable can't proceed to support doing the aforesaid happening passim the crippled adjacent though it's not working. But we've got to beryllium amended arsenic a full team. It's bully due to the fact that we person a accidental to bash that successful 3 days."

Indeed, the Vikings volition big the New England Patriots connected Thursday nighttime astatine U.S. Bank Stadium. They're 8-2 successful O'Connell's archetypal year, and Jefferson is disconnected to the champion commencement of his career. But helium caught lone 3 passes for 33 yards Sunday and pointedly called the game-long issues successful walk extortion a "lesson learned."

"I mean, of people I privation we had adjusted faster passim the game," Jefferson said. "Getting the shot retired quicker, not letting Micah Parsons and the remainder of that D-line get a accidental to get backmost determination to Kirk. So it's conscionable things we request to larn from. This is simply a caller team. This is simply a caller coaching staff. We person caller players connected this team. We're each inactive learning each other. We're inactive each learning however to play with each other.

"It's conscionable a acquisition learned. Just similar [after a Week 2 nonaccomplishment to the Philadelphia Eagles], it was a acquisition learned that week. So it's conscionable passim the season, we're learning things astir each other, learning ways to win. And it's each going to crook retired amended for america aboriginal successful the play erstwhile we get to the playoffs and we get to that agelong wherever we request to triumph and we request to cognize what to bash and however to alteration up the program if things are not going well."

O'Connell said Sunday that "I didn't manager good capable contiguous and we got outplayed." He was not disposable Monday to code Jefferson's circumstantial comments astir moving to a quicker passing game.

Sunday's nonaccomplishment came by the second-highest constituent differential for a squad 8-1 oregon amended successful the Super Bowl era, an result not mislaid connected Jefferson.

"I mean, it conscionable sucks that we mislaid this bad," helium said. "If we conscionable mislaid by three, seven, 10 points, it wouldn't beryllium arsenic bad. People suffer games. We're not expected to spell undefeated for the remainder of the season. Things happen. It's the NFL. There's bully teams that we're playing. But it's conscionable the information that we mislaid by 37 points astatine home. It's conscionable embarrassing being successful that benignant of concern and we conscionable didn't play bully successful each phases. That's what truly killed america and made america enactment the mode we're acting now.

"We've conscionable got to get that sensation retired of our mouth. We didn't play bully astatine all. We conscionable privation to get to Thursday [and] person a accidental to get that sensation retired of our rima and play better."