National Football League

Was Justin Jefferson's catch better than OBJ's?

Updated Nov. 14, 2022 5:07 p.m. ET

Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson hauled in an all-time great catch during Minnesota’s remarkable 33-30 win over Buffalo on Sunday.

It came in a crucial spot, preserving the Vikings' last-ditch effort to put points on the board in a game that appeared all but over early in the fourth.

But Jefferson’s snag helped keep Minnesota alive on fourth-and-18, and the Vikings eventually earned a victory that kept them near the top of the NFC at 8-1.

And although a number of plays from the affair will long be remembered, Jefferson’s dazzling catch takes the cake.

For Pro Football Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe, it’s the best catch he’s seen in a long time, even better than Odell Beckham Jr.’s gargantuan one-hander for the Giants years ago.

"The circumstances in which Jefferson caught the ball were more impressive [than Beckham’s]. It was a 32-yard catch, it’s fourth-and-18, and right now it’s the catch of the year," Sharpe said Monday on "Undisputed." " … It’s probably going to win some kind of award. If you look at it, if he doesn’t make this catch, the game’s over.

" … OBJ’s [catch] made the score 7-3. It was phenomenal … but it wasn’t fourth-and-18 in the fourth quarter, do-or-die situation. And also, Dallas came back and won the [Beckham] game. … This was unbelievable. Because Jefferson’s catch, when it happened … he doesn’t make this catch, they’re losing the game!"

Skip Bayless couldn’t agree with his cohost, arguing that Beckham’s catch required more dexterity.

"It’s not even in the same stratosphere with Odell’s," Bayless said. "I give you circumstance … but the point is, if I just do in a vacuum, which is the best catch by itself? It is completely one hand, by himself, with nothing happening to that hand as he goes to the ground. … This is all Odell, all the time. He goes and snatches it with one hand all the way back behind his head, hauls it back in to the No. 13, and controls it to the ground as he hits on his back."