Jaire Alexander backs up trash talk as Packers stifle Justin Jefferson, Vikings

GREEN BAY, Wis. On Thursday, Jaire Alexander talked the talk. Sitting on the table inside the Packers locker room where Alexander conducts all his interviews with local media, Green Bays star cornerback called what Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson did to the Packers in Week 1 a fluke. Jefferson caught six passes for 158

GREEN BAY, Wis. — On Thursday, Jaire Alexander talked the talk.

Sitting on the table inside the Packers’ locker room where Alexander conducts all his interviews with local media, Green Bay’s star cornerback called what Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson did to the Packers in Week 1 “a fluke.” Jefferson caught six passes for 158 yards and two touchdowns in the first half and finished the game with nine catches for 184 yards in Minnesota’s 23-7 win.

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To be clear, Alexander wasn’t calling Jefferson himself a fluke. Alexander said Jefferson is one of the NFL’s three best receivers. He was basically guaranteeing the Packers wouldn’t play that poorly against Jefferson again.

“Just all the yards he had, that’s what I was calling a fluke,” Alexander clarified Sunday. “He was catching passes when there wasn’t nobody even on him. Like, yeah, OK, good job.”

On Sunday, Alexander and the Packers walked the walk.

In Green Bay’s 41-17 drubbing of Minnesota, Jefferson caught just one pass for 15 yards on five targets. According to Next Gen Stats, Jefferson averaged 2.19 yards of separation on his targets. The league average is 2.93 yards. He has arguably been the league’s best wideout this season, but the Packers held him to a season low in catches and receiving yards Sunday. He was targeted four times in the first 30 minutes but had his first catch-less first half since Week 1 of the 2020 season against … Green Bay.

The Packers, who left Philadelphia on Nov. 27 with a 4-8 record, have won four in a row and now control their own destiny to make the playoffs. If they beat the Lions at Lambeau Field next weekend, they’re in. And Alexander’s showing why he’s the highest-paid cornerback in NFL history against someone who likely will soon be the highest-paid receiver in league history is a big reason the Packers are one win away from pulling off the improbable.

“I know Jaire chirped a little bit,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said. “But he backed it up.”

One week prior, Alexander did the “waddle” dance in front of Dolphins receiver Jaylen Waddle after Waddle’s catch on a third-and-8 while covered by Alexander fell short of the first-down marker. He again did the dance coming off the field after Green Bay’s Christmas Day win. Against the Vikings, Alexander did the “griddy” dance popularized by Jefferson in front of the Vikings star after breaking up a pass intended for him on second-and-10 along the right sideline in the first quarter. Jefferson pleaded with the refs for a flag.

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“I mean, I thought it was taunting, first of all,” Jefferson said. “I thought that was a taunting call. It is what it is. He does stuff like that to try to get in my head. … Even from his comment leading into the game, it’s just talk. Trying to give himself that booster and confidence to guard me.”

Alexander said he had planned to do the griddy all week, though he didn’t practice his moves.

“A lot of times you see (Jefferson) doing the griddy,” Alexander said. “It was my turn. I wonder what they thought.”

Jaire Alexander hit the Griddy after defending Justin Jefferson! pic.twitter.com/5ogBJsLvX2

— NFL UK (@NFLUK) January 1, 2023

In Week 1, Alexander matched up against Jefferson on 12 of his 33 routes (36 percent), per Next Gen Stats. He said after that game he had asked coaches all week preceding the game to shadow Jefferson, but defensive coordinator Joe Barry opted not to employ that plan. According to Pro Football Focus, none of Jefferson’s nine catches (or 10 targets) came with Alexander covering him.

On Sunday, Alexander matched up against Jefferson on 20 of his 31 routes (65 percent). Jefferson’s lone catch came with less than eight minutes left in the third quarter. The Packers were in zone, and Alexander passed Jefferson off to the inside before the catch was made in front of safety Adrian Amos for a 15-yard gain. That’s it.

“There were a couple times he implemented some quick jams where he was very physical at the line of scrimmage,” LaFleur said of Alexander guarding Jefferson. “I thought, anytime DBs do that, you’re not always expecting it, especially if you haven’t seen it a ton on tape, and that’s always a challenge. I don’t care who you are as a wide receiver, it’s always a challenge. I thought that was a great job by our staff, a great job by Ja and really all other 10 guys on the field to be able to do their job off of whatever call was being made.”

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After defensive lineman T.J. Slaton tipped Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins’ pass in the second quarter and Amos intercepted it, Alexander shoved Jefferson in the back twice even though he was behind the play, once during the return and once after the play ended. Jefferson ripped off his helmet and spiked it on the sideline.

Tipped by @_56Ms_ 😤

Intercepted by @_SmashAmos31 💪#MINvsGB | #GoPackGo

📺 CBS pic.twitter.com/ndmc7N7py8

— Green Bay Packers (@packers) January 1, 2023

After Jefferson tackled safety Rudy Ford into Green Bay’s sideline on Ford’s fourth-quarter interception return, the Packers surrounded Jefferson and Alexander again got in his face.

Jefferson said after the game that Alexander’s trash talk “doesn’t really affect me.”

“I talked to him plenty during the game,” Alexander said.

After it?

“I don’t think he wanted to talk to me.”

Alexander acknowledged some coaches got mad at him for his “fluke” comment earlier in the week. He didn’t back down from what he said, telling them he was just being honest. That’s the confidence Alexander has in himself and those around him, he said. So if the Packers’ performance against Jefferson in Week 1 was a fluke, what was Sunday night?

“Greatness,” Alexander said.

“We trust his ability and we’re going to have his back,” Amos said of Alexander. “Whatever he said, we’ve got his back just like we know he’s got ours.”

Jaire Alexander: “Tell Shannon Sharpe and Skip Bayless they need to watch what they say when they talk about me, you feel me? They need to watch what they put out. Talkin’ about, ‘He a good corner.’ I’m a great corner.” pic.twitter.com/a5gamcyH4U

— Matt Schneidman (@mattschneidman) January 2, 2023

This offseason, the Packers made Alexander the richest player ever at his position with a contract worth $21 million per year. He was named a Pro Bowler but hasn’t been the lockdown corner his salary indicates he should be, at least not consistently enough.

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Alexander wasn’t voted by his teammates as one of the defense’s three captains, which he acknowledged rubbed him the wrong way.

But after the Packers’ Week 12 loss to the Eagles sunk them to 4-8, Alexander stepped up and spoke. He told the team that the remainder of the season would reveal who really cares. They’ve since reeled off four consecutive victories and are one way from sneaking into the postseason, thanks in part to the resurgence of a secondary led by Alexander, who intercepted passes against the Bears and Dolphins before showing against the Vikings why he’s deserving of all that money.

Alexander has never wavered from his belief that he’s the best cornerback in the game and that the Packers have the best secondary in the league. However unrealistic that may sound at times, Green Bay’s defensive backfield and its best player showed Sunday why Alexander might not be as wild as he sometimes sounds.

One more game of walking the walk like that, both from Alexander and those he trusts so much around him, and the Packers just might pull off what seemed unfathomable not long ago.

“This is perfect,” Alexander said. “This is everything. Everything’s ascending. … It’s playoff football from here on out and it’s been that way for weeks. It shouldn’t change.”

(Photo of Jaire Alexander and Rudy Ford: Stacy Revere / Getty Images)

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