NFC Notes: Jared Goff, Justin Jefferson, Lions, Packers, Vikings

Lions

Detroit added another crazy trick play to their highlight reel in their Week 16 win, as they faked a fumble which led to a touchdown by TE Sam LaPorta. Lions QB Jared Goff explained the process of perfecting the play and how OC Ben Johnson originally wanted him to actually fumble the ball. 

“We ran it three or four times during the week,” Goff said, via Tim Twentyman of the team’s website. “At first it started on Monday with Ben asking me if he thought I could actually fumble on purpose and actually pick it back up. I said, ‘I don’t know about that?'”

“I think the part with Gibbs where he dives really sells the play. It worked like a charm.”

Packers

Packers TE Tucker Kraft has drawn comparisons to former great TE Mark Bavaro.

“Just being physical, being tough,” Kraft said, via ESPN. “YAC, that’s really all that guy was worried about … So just trying to channel my inner Bavaro.”

Kraft’s high school coach Ryan Kimbel recalled a time when Kraft got hurt but remained in the game to continue to try and help his team win.

“He got hurt in a game, rolled his ankle,” Gimbel recalled. “But he said, ‘I can still play, but I can’t run.’ So we threw him in at guard, and we ran his freshman cousin right behind. [Kraft] couldn’t run, but he could block.”

Packers RB Josh Jacobs said that Kraft is a great teammate and has just the right amount of crazy in him.

“He is a little crazy, but I love it,” Jacobs said. “Crazy in all the good ways. You see the way that he plays, man. t’s fun playing with a guy like that, that’ll put his body on the line for you, get hit by four people to get a first down, things like that. You’ve got to love teammates like that.”

Vikings

Minnesota got a huge win over the Seahawks to maintain pace in the race for the NFC’s top seed thanks to a massive game from WR Justin Jefferson. Vikings HC Kevin O’Connell explained how Jefferson has been able to succeed despite defenses formulating entire game plans around slowing him down. 

“He’s gotten really good at understanding how he’s being defended, both pre- and postsnap,” O’Connell said, via SI.com’s Albert Breer. “He’s playing incredibly fast. He has the understanding to run the best route he possibly can. Sometimes, it’s a moving target. Sometimes, we give him the opportunity to make a play within a concept where we don’t want to lock him into one particular break because we don’t know what variation of coverage he’s going to see.”

“We just know that there’s going to be a major emphasis to defend him. We’ve spent a lot of time talking about how we combat that and allow him to play fast postsnap no matter what way he’s defended.”

O’Connell also touched on the narrative surrounding QB Sam Darnold and doesn’t feel people judge him fairly because they already made up their minds about him as a player.

“When people have decided that you can’t play in their own minds, sometimes instead of it being a product of a guy deserving the credit for playing really good football, it’s always just, When’s it going to go the other way? I don’t think that’s fair. I don’t think that’s fair to him. He came here for the opportunity. He came here to be a Minnesota Viking, play in our offense, with the players around him. And I have a blast coaching him.”