In the Christmas Eve Giants-Vikings matchup, Justin Jefferson and T.J. Hockenson combined for 25 catches, 242 yards, and three touchdowns – or, as Giants head coach Brian Daboll said, “JJ’s really good and Hockenson killed us.”
The Vikings have a multitude of weapons – Dalvin Cook, an all-World back, also had 77 yards from scrimmage – but there’s going to be one big difference on the receiving side: Xavier McKinney is back, and may have Adoree’ Jackson with him.
Neither played in the first game, but Alabama alum McKinney saw LSU star Jefferson a lot in college, and he knows what kind of danger the Vikings’ all-time single-season receiving leader (and one of only six players to reach 1,800 yards in a season) presents.
“I know all the things that he can do. He can single handedly take over a game, I've seen it, I've played against it before in college and I've seen it in the league a lot of times, everybody has,” McKinney said. “He’s just a special route runner, catches a lot of crazy catches, and he's just a tough match up when he's going against anybody. You've got to make sure that you're on your p's and q's when you're facing him. It's going to be a challenge for us, but we'll be prepared and be ready.”
“We've got to know where he is at all times,” safety Julian Love added. “We've been saying he's a top two receiver and he's not two. He's the real deal.”
Hockenson, meanwhile, was acquired when the Vikings lost Irv Smith, and he has added another dimension to that receiving corps with his size and skill.
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“He’s one of the best tight ends in the league and it showed last time we played him,” McKinney said. “He's a really good tight end so we've just got to be prepared. I've got to be prepared to be able to have that matchup against him. I'm excited for it, it's going to be fun. So like I said, I'll be ready.”
Despite those epic numbers, though, the Giants lost only on a last-second field goal – and McKinney believes that with him back, and Jackson possible, those two will get theirs, but won’t be able to explode the way they did the first time.
“They’re good players, some of the best in the league, and even with me and Adoree’ out there, they’re going to make plays,” McKinney said. “When you face another great player, you have to limit them, you can't really stop them all the way. They're going to make some catches that might be crazy, but it's a part of the game. We know that they're going to make some plays, but you've got to be able to bounce back and keep going. So, that's what we're looking to do and like I said, we're going to do what we can to limit them.”
“(Jefferson is) one of the best in the league; there’s not a lot of teams or players that can just stop him because he’s a dynamic player and exceptional route runner, so he’s a very tough player to defend,” Daboll added. “I think we just try to put a plan together that we think is best for competing against their offense. They have a lot of good players on their offense, a lot of talented skill players and a good quarterback, so we're going to have to play a really good, sound defensive game.”
Of course, the best way to stop Jefferson, Hockenson, or any other player is to be on the same page with defensive schemes and assignments.
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“It’s not necessarily what they do, because they’re going to do what they do, but we’ve got to do what we’re going to do,” McKinney said. “The only thing that we can do as a defense and as a DB group is all be on the same page, know what we're doing in certain situations, and then trust our technique and go from there. They trust their technique, so we've got to trust ours.
That's how we go into it.”
And Daboll is confident that McKinney, at least, will be a big factor.
“Other than the little cast, he looks the same; he’s done a good job of staying in shape and I'm glad he's back,” the head coach said. “I think any good player, when he hasn’t played and you get him back, you hope that they can help you.”
Follow Lou DiPietro on Twitter: @LouDiPietroWFAN
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