Justin Jefferson’s 52-yard TD vs. Falcons provided funniest moment of NFL Week 14

Sam Darnold decided to spoil Kirk Cousins’ return to Minnesota.

The Minnesota Vikings hosted the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday, marking their former quarterback’s first game back in Minnesota since making the move to Atlanta this past offseason. But it was Darnold who stole the show, as the Vikings’ QB threw for 347 yards and 5 touchdowns, both of which were career-high marks, as Minnesota improved to 11-2 on the season with a 42-21 win over Atlanta.

And one of those touchdowns offered the funniest moment of the entire Week 14 slate.

The play in question was Darnold’s third touchdown pass of the day, a 52-yard connection with Justin Jefferson. With Minnesota facing a 3rd-and-8 situation Darnold does a tremendous job avoiding pressure in the pocket, before finding Jefferson deep downfield for the touchdown:

Now we need to talk about slot cornerback Dee Alford for a moment, who gets spun around downfield and ends up face-planting as the throw hangs in the air:

There are “teaching tape” moments in every single NFL game, moments that if you were a coach you would want to share with your players. This unfortunate stumble from Alford, however, is not one such moment.

Yahoo Sports analyst Nate Tice was one of the first to highlight this moment on NFL Sunday:

As Tice points out, Jefferson put his hand up calling for the football but had to wait as Darnold scrambled for his life in the pocket. To his credit Alford, who was caught near the line of scrimmage early in the play raced downfield to try and catch up with Jefferson, but turned the wrong way when trying to track both the football and the receiver.

When he tried to recover, that is when the stumble came.

A bitter pill for Alford to swallow, but still a humorous moment for those of us watching from the safety of our couches.