A pair of Minnesota Vikings set records Thursday afternoon in the team’s 23-10 victory over the Detroit Lions. Since it’s time to talk about the positives that came from the victory, let’s talk about them a little now.
The first is an album that I think many of us were hoping to hear about this season, but hoped it would have happened a long time ago. With his 30 receiving yards against the Lions, Justin Jefferson surpassed Randy Moss for the most receiving yards by a player in his first six NFL seasons. He now has 8,379 career receiving yards, surpassing Moss’ mark of 8,375.
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Jefferson had put up big numbers in his first five seasons, but those numbers have fallen this season due to the team’s struggles at the quarterback position. At his usual pace, he would have destroyed Moss’ record by midseason. The fact that he hasn’t started pouting or melting down in the midst of everything that’s happened this year is truly a testament to him and what he brings to the franchise.
Now, hopefully the Vikings can help him reach another record. He needs 53 yards in the regular season finale against Green Bay to join Moss and Mike Evans as the only players in NFL history to record at least 1,000 receiving yards in each of their first six NFL seasons. Evans continued to do so for eleven straight years, while Moss fell below 1,000 yards in his seventh year while dealing with a litany of injuries.
The other Viking to set a record Thursday afternoon put his name in the team record books. That would be the player who arguably has been the team’s most consistent player this season, kicker Will Reichard. With two more field goals from beyond 50 yards, Reichard now has 11 such field goals on the season. He now holds the team record in that category, surpassing the record Blair Walsh set as a rookie in 2012 when he made 10 field goals of 50 yards or longer. Reichard has now surpassed his point total from his rookie season, as he has totaled 116 points for the Purples this season.
Congratulations to Justin Jefferson and Will Reichard for setting new standards, whether at the NFL or team level, this season.