Vikings WR1 Justin Jefferson Probably Made Note of the Recent News

Nobody wants to see an injury. What’s nevertheless true is that players, like fans, enjoy cruising toward a favorable matchup.

Did Justin Jefferson therefore notice the recent news?

The Colts are a team that’s sorting through some disarray. Such is life for a 2-4 team that just canned its GM. The other bit of bad news is that Sauce Gardner is going to miss the game on Sunday, as Ian Rapoport reports: “More #Colts news: Pro Bowl CB Sauce Garder, who was unable to finish Sunday’s loss to the #Titans, has a mild calf strain that makes him week-to-week, sources say after the MRI. Gardner is expected to miss some time, but not an extended period.”

Vikings WR1 Justin Jefferson Moving Toward Nice Matchup

So far, Mr. Jefferson has had some solid games but nothing that would qualify as a vintage performance. Consider the basic stats:

• Week 1: 8 Catches, 92 yards, 2 TDs
• Week 2: 3 Catches, 55 Yards
• Week 3: 2 Catches 32 Yards
• Week 4: N/A
• Week 5: 6 Catches, 79 Yards, 1 TD

Some good news: the Vikings WR1 is scoring more. Already, he has surpassed last year’s pair of touchdowns since he’s sitting at 3 scores instead of the 2 he had across all of the 2025 season. Keep in mind, as well, that he’s got a 2-point conversion.

And, of course, there’s that absence in Week 4 due to injury. He missed time in that Week 3 Bucs game, too. Combined with the QB turmoil and Week 2 monsoon, Jefferson’s solid but unspectacular (by his standards) yardage and catch totals are explainable.

Are things going to change in Week 7? Seeing him clear 100 yards shouldn’t be a surprise at least partly due to the absence at corner for the Colts.

When he’s on his game, Sauce Gardner is a legit CB1 who can hang with the league’s best receivers. He got his start in the NFL with the Jets, chosen at No. 4 in the 2022 NFL Draft. Pretty quickly, Gardner proved to be one of the rare smart decisions from the New York Jets.

As a rookie in 2022, Mr. Gardner was honored as a first-team All Pro. So, too, did he win Defensive Rookie of the Year while being sent to the Pro Bowl. Better yet, he finished eighth in Defensive Player of the Year voting.

He then doubled down, finishing as a first-team All Pro at corner in 2023 while being sent to the Pro Bowl yet again. Again, not too shabby. Gardner became elite immediately after turning pro, a height he hasn’t fully reached more recently but that’s still in there inside of him.

Losing him, even for a week, will be tough to overcome for a Colts team that’s flirting with collapse.

Indianapolis isn’t going to be favored to win the Week 7 game. Part of what’s going to make life difficult is the return to health from the Vikings’ RB1/2. Likewise, the Vikings’ WR1 — Justin Jefferson — is setup to do damage, largely due to the injury that’s going to keep Sauce Gardner off the field.

Kickoff for the upcoming game is at 12:00 p.m. CT on Sunday, October 25th.

Senior Editor for Vikings Territory & PurplePTSD . Twitter & Bluesky: @VikingsGazette. Email: k.joudry[at]vikingsterritory[dot]com. Canadian. Jude 1:24-25.