Justin Jefferson was in the back of an ambulance being transported to a Las Vegas hospital with sirens blaring Sunday to undergo tests to determine if he had suffered internal bleeding or broken ribs on a violent hit in the second quarter of the Vikings’ 3-0 win over the Raiders.
The Vikings superstar was frustrated he couldn’t still be on the field, so he did the next logical thing. He took out his phone and watched the game in the ambulance.
He kept watching from the emergency room as he awaited and went through tests.
“I was yelling, I was screaming,” Jefferson said Wednesday in the Vikings locker room. “The people that were really hurt [in the ER], they probably were annoyed by me.”
That Jefferson can chuckle about his first ambulance ride and trip to the emergency room three days later brings a sigh of relief to the entire organization. The wicked hit to his ribs left the All-Pro receiver with what he described as an internal bruise but nothing more serious, and he has every intention of playing Saturday in Cincinnati.
“Hopefully Saturday I can give what everybody is expecting,” he said.
He brought that mindset with him to Vegas after missing seven games because of a hamstring injury. Finally healthy, he was ready to dominate defensive secondaries again. He said he “felt like a kid again, just being out there on that field,” and the pro-Vikings crowd at Allegiant Stadium roared when he jogged to the huddle for his first play.
“Sadly, I wasn’t able to give them fully what they wanted and what I wanted to do,” he said.
His return lasted only 13 snaps. On his final play, he jumped to catch a high pass and was drilled by Raiders safety Marcus Epps. Jefferson grabbed his right side while on the ground. The medical staff evaluated him in the medical tent for two minutes before taking him to the locker room.
“I’ve been hit plenty of times before,” he said. “It definitely has some pain at the impact. I’ve been [sidelined] for too long. I wanted to continue to play, continue to battle out there with my brothers. But when I came to the sideline and some things happened, I wasn’t able to go back in the game.”
Jefferson didn’t specify what alarmed the medical staff enough to seek more testing at the hospital. Jefferson said he “definitely broke down a little bit” when the staff told him that he could not return to the game. He already had lost about half the season because of his hamstring injury. Now he was being sent to the hospital to determine if he had suffered internal injuries that might prevent him from flying home with the team.
“I was scared,” he said. “I felt like I was still able to play. But with the circumstances, I had to be taken out of the game.”
Everything checked out OK at the hospital, and he returned to the stadium near the end of the game. Jefferson said he could breathe normally and move around without much discomfort Sunday night.
“All good signs,” he said.
Jefferson will have a new quarterback throwing him passes Saturday as Nick Mullens replaces Joshua Dobbs to become the fourth different starter this season. The Vikings currently hold the No. 6 playoff spot in the NFC and, rather remarkably, still control their own destiny in the division despite a season filled with chaos.
At 7-6, three of their remaining four games come against division opponents.
“You don’t really know who is going to be the last man standing in our division,” Jefferson said. “That keeps the juices flowing.”
He has reason to feel hyped. His team’s season didn’t go into the tank in his absence. And, thankfully, he avoided another serious injury on that hit.
Jefferson expressed gratitude to the medical professionals who took care of him, but he’d like to make watching the game on his phone in the back of an ambulance a one-time experience.
Chip Scoggins is a sports columnist and enterprise writer for the Star Tribune. He previously covered the Vikings, Gophers football, Wild, Wolves and high school sports in nearly 19 years at the paper.
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