The Minnesota Vikings have been playing short-handed on offense all season, and they hope they won’t have to navigate a Week 3 contest against the powerhouse Houston Texans absent star wide receiver Justin Jefferson.
That doesn’t appear to be the case based on a new report from ESPN’s Adam Schefter, which came three days after Jefferson suffered a quad contusion that knocked him out early of a Week 2 matchup with the San Francisco 49ers.
“Vikings WR Justin Jefferson participated in today’s walk through, despite his quad injury,” Schefter posted to X on Wednesday, September 18. “It looks as if he is on track to play Sunday vs. the Texans.”
Schefter’s report tracks with what Jefferson said about his injury following the team’s improbable victory over the reigning NFC champion Niners.
“Just a little thigh bruise, contusion, whatever you want to call it,” Jefferson said, according to Andrew Krammer of the Star Tribune. “Something that happens a lot in the game. Just got to treat it up, get it figured out and be ready to go next week.”
Vikings QB Sam Darnold Has Been Excellent Without Most of His Top Options in Passing Game
GettyMinnesota Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold.
The news is also a boon for quarterback Sam Darnold, who played a portion of Week 1 with Jordan Addison before an ankle injury sidelined the second-year wideout. Addison did not practice on Wednesday, per the Vikings’ official injury report, and could miss this weekend’s game.
Darnold hasn’t had two-time Pro Bowl tight end T.J. Hockenson for a single snap in 2024, as he continues rehabilitating a knee injury he sustained late last year against the Detroit Lions.
Despite lacking his second and third options in the pass game, Darnold has led the Vikings to a 2-0 record on the strength of 476 yards passing, 4 TDs and 2 INTs with a 72% completion rate.
Vikings Nearing Inclusion in NFL Contender Discussion After Impressive 2-0 Start
GettyQuarterback Sam Darnold of the Minnesota Vikings.
The Vikings bested a New York Giants team potentially on the verge of major changes at quarterback, head coach or both by a score of 28-6 in a Week 1 road game. They then jumped out to a lead against San Francisco at home and held on down the stretch, despite Jefferson’s absence.
The range of difficulty the two wins span feels like enough success for the Vikings to start getting some respect nationally. However, Minnesota isn’t quite there yet in the opinion of ESPN analyst Benjamin Solak.
He gave the Vikings the “pretenders” moniker in his column on Tuesday, while bestowing the “contenders” tag to both the New Orleans Saints and Tampa Bay Buccaneers — two teams that also began this NFL season 2-0.
“I wish [the Vikings] were contenders. It would be so cool if they were contenders. But Sam Darnold falls below the bar of quarterback play necessary to be a true contender,” Solak wrote. “The only way I’d be willing to buy the Vikings is if I were certain that coach Kevin O’Connell is so good an offensive schemer that he can do what Sean McVay did for Jared Goff in 2018 and what Kyle Shanahan did for Jimmy Garoppolo in 2019. And it’s harder to do it now than it was then. I’m just not there yet.”
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