Jaire Alexander backs up talk as Pack hold Justin Jefferson to 1 catch

play

Jaire Alexander of the Packers broke up a pass intended for Jefferson. At the time, it was an innocuous moment.

Alexander looked back at Jefferson as he hit the "Griddy" dance. It was a reversal of fortunes for the two players. The Packers held Jefferson to a career-low one reception for 15 yards in their 41-17 victory, after he burned them for 11 reception, 184 yards and 2 touchdown in the first week.

Jefferson said he thought Alexander should have been punished for the celebration. After Alexander told reporters that Jefferson's Week 1 performance was a "fluke," he was not surprised to see it.

Jefferson said that he tries to get in his head. The thing is what it is. His comments prior to the game were just talk. It is just trying to give him the confidence to guard me. The team is likely to make the playoffs. We'll see then.

Alexander said he received a talking-to from the coaches after his comments.

I don't know what I told them. Alexander said that he's just being honest. That's all.

Alexander told the coaches that he wanted to cover Jefferson more than he did in the first week of the season. Alexander lined up across from Jefferson 20 times on Sunday, and no other Packers defenders lined up across from Jefferson more than twice. Alexander was on Jefferson on more than half of his routes.

After holding Jefferson without a catch in the first half and to just one reception for 15 yards, Packers coach Matt LaFleur said: "I know Jaire chirped a little bit, but he backed it up."

Alexander didn't talk to Jefferson after the game.

Alexander thinks he didn't want to talk to him.

Jefferson spoke to reporters in the Minnesota locker room. Their 16-game point differential is -19 and they have lost by an average of 22.3 points.

"We have to fix the fact that when we lose, we lose bad," Jefferson said.

He realized that he made his mark in the league and that he would not be allowed to get 100 yards. They won't let me get to that kind of numbers.

It is difficult to do that on the same team. It's hard to get 100 yards on the same team. If that happens, that shows you that they aren't doing their job. Getting one catch in the game, wanting to be a big part of the offense, and not being able to do that is hard on me.

Jefferson's run at the NFL record books may have been halted by the low production. Heading into the Vikings' Week 18 game at the Chicago Bears, he is 199 yards away from breaking Calvin Johnson's single-season receiving yards record.