EAGAN, Minn. — Justin Jefferson's pink cleats heeled the left hash at the Vikings 23.

On a second-and-1 from Minnesota's 31, at the 11:11 timestamp in the first quarter Sunday in London, the global superstar relaxed his money-makers, adorned with matching pink gloves, on top of his knees and lowered into a quarter squat, 6 yards behind quarterback Carson Wentz in an under-center stance.

As soon as Minnesota's fill-in center Blake Brandel (subbing for starter Ryan Kelly and backup Michael Jurgens) hiked the ball, the Vikings top receiver exploded from a standstill to his right, mirroring a running back on a stretch run play. Jefferson didn't take a handoff, though; he accelerated into the flat.

Meanwhile …

Wentz play-faked to Jordan Mason, who was aligned in an offset I-formation, half-rolled to Jefferson's side and then flicked the ball to his untraditional running back, so to speak. It was a completion for 11.

Maybe the easiest 11 yards of Jefferson's 7,881 so far.

"I probably caught the [Vikings] coaches off guard a little bit in the moment with that," Head Coach Kevin O'Connell offered Monday, explaining he pulled the play from a different section of the call sheet.

From a play-calling perspective, O'Connell expressed his awareness of the "risk-reward proposition" Cleveland's defense presents, and so he weighed pushing the ball downfield against trying for a first down via the run game or dialing up an unusual look. Ultimately, he chose the latter.

"There were some unique things that married up with something we had done previously that teams are going to have carded up and have on tape," the coach shared. "[It was] a nice counter to that."

Jefferson began the down crowning the "0" at the top of the 30-yard line to Wentz's left, assuming his normal split stance, the one famous for funneling him into an elongated gait and breathtaking route tree.

After a quick glance over his right shoulder, Wentz redirected his gaze to "Jets" and signaled a shift, bringing Jefferson into a position that flummoxed the league's No. 1-ranked defense entering Week 5.

When the ball was snapped, all nine defenders in the box either honored the run or hesitated for just long enough to soften the space between the right hash and the sideline, generating an automatic catch.

Ordinarily, at least it seemed, Wentz pitched to Jefferson for their first of seven connections.

"He's a hard guy, some games, to find those easy touches for him," O'Connell said of the star who is usually double-teamed. "Normally when we can get him going – and we've been able to, the last couple weeks – it coincides with our offense [being] able to find some rhythm if we can avoid the negatives.

"I think Justin getting his touches and having the ability – obviously, we know what he is as a route runner and his ability to make catches – but to me, his run-after-catch [ability] is dynamic as well," O'Connell added, stressing the importance of configuring ways to get the ball to Jefferson out in space.

During Minnesota's historic jaunt across the pond, Jefferson reeled in 17 of 22 targets in clashes with AFC North opponents Pittsburgh and Cleveland in Dublin and London, amassing 249 receiving yards. This year, he's averaging a career-best 5.2 yards after the catch per reception, according to Pro Football Focus.

Chalk that up to play design, ability and execution meeting the moment.

Potentially overlooked versus the Browns, the creative play design by O'Connell initiated Jefferson's 36^th career 100-yard game, which moved him past Julio Jones for the second-most all-time in a player's first six seasons (Vikings Legend Randy Moss holds the record with 38), and his second in as many weeks.

O'Connell's creativity splattered the canvas of Minnesota's 21-17 comeback win over Cleveland.

Later, responding to a 7-0 deficit, the Vikings offense overcame a trio of penalties to march 50 yards from their 18 to the Browns 32. Facing a first-and-10, O'Connell reached deeper in his bag of tricks.

His daring came in the form of a running back pass, executed brilliantly by Cam Akers.

Standing alone in the backfield with (from tightest to widest) Jalen Nailor, Jefferson and Wentz split out left to the boundary and tight ends Josh Oliver and T.J. Hockenson crouched next to tackle Justin Skule, the reserve running back fielded a shotgun snap and followed a cascade of blockers pulling to their right.

Four Browns defensive linemen strained toward Akers, and five off-ball defenders overseeing the Vikings heavy personnel reacted to the run action and flew up the field. They all had diagnosed it wrong.

That's the thing with trickery – it can throw aggressors off the scent.

Sensing pressure and spotting his target wide open, Akers elevated and flipped a fadeaway pass to Oliver, who broke off a corner route and secured the football at the 16, and waltzed in for six points scot-free. Oliver, a mammoth of a man, was one of two guys in patterns on the play. Jefferson ran a post route – basically a clear-out – to help sell the run, and Wentz looped backwards from his receiver stance, indicating the possibility of a throwback across the field. Akers, however, never looked his way.

Instead, he twirled the rock like he did as a prepster in Mississippi, and even a draft-eligible Seminole who attempted eight passes, completing five for 97 yards for Florida State.

"I just remember when I was doing the evaluation process, (former Rams running backs coach) Thomas Brown at the time was like, 'You've got to see his YouTube clips,' because he's got all of his completions from Florida State on YouTube," O'Connell recalled.

"And then we got to know him a little bit through the process," O'Connell continued. "And I found out quickly from Cam that he threw for 3,000 yards as a high school quarterback. Just ask Cam, he'll tell you."

Akers' passing background is considerably more than myth.

The 2016 Mississippi Gatorade Player of the Year, Akers tallied nearly as many touchdowns with his arm his senior season at Clinton High School (31) as he did with his feet (34). Obviously, Akers laid his claim to fame as a nifty runner at Florida State. But he still excelled on occasion as a passer. (His best was a 47-yard deep shot, an absolute beauty, that arced over Boston College's secondary).

Although Akers didn't attempt a pass in the NFL until Sunday, O'Connell remembered his escapades.

That tucked-away skill set, plus Akers' demeanor in handling such a high stakes snap, supplied O'Connell with the requisite confidence to exploit "an opportunity that presented itself from some previous clips."

It was Akers' only snap on offense or special teams, and he made it count wholeheartedly.

"He comes in the game and executes the play perfectly – exactly from the details of where we wanted, how we wanted him to sell it, the track he took when he initially caught the ball, and then his ability to understand that there would probably be a little push and it would have to be a little bit of a, kind of a fadeaway jumper, and he spun that thing right in stride to J.O.," O'Connell said with a smile. "Felt like it was the right time to try to see if we could pop that one for a touchdown – the guys made it come to life.

"Cam's fantastic from the standpoint of you know exactly what you're gonna get from, and you can put a play like that in front of him, and he just has a big smile on his face and attacks it throughout the week," he added, doubling down on Akers' flawless execution. "I will say that was his best throw of his opps we got to see [in practice], but he did complete them all leading into it. He saved his best one for the game."

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