GREEN BAY, Wis. — The worst-case scenario crossed Aaron Jones’ mind as he rode the back of a cart to the locker room, a towel draped over his head, a disheartened look on his face, his right hand raised to the crowd hoping for the best but also likely fearing the worst.
The clock stopped with 2:54 remaining in the second quarter after Jones ran for two yards and injured his left knee. Jones needed the help of both head trainer Bryan Engel and team physician Patrick McKenzie to get off the field. The running back was visibly overcome with emotion as he trudged toward the sideline medical tent.
“They went to go tackle me on the right, like my right foot,” Jones said of the play on which he was injured. “They missed and I kinda picked it up and it was laying on the defender’s helmet and my left leg was in the ground and somebody had me and my cleats were in the ground. And I think it was (Los Angeles Chargers linebacker) Kenneth Murray comes down and I’m already like kinda low and I just absorbed all of that that was in the ground — knee, hip and groin — felt it all. It felt awful.”
As Jones sat in the back of the cart, he couldn’t help but wonder if he had torn his ACL.
“I put in a lot of work, put in a lot of time to be here with these guys and for it to go out like that, I was feeling like, ‘Man, I can’t catch a break,’” Jones said. “But caught a break. Hopefully, it’s not anything serious and I’m back here pretty soon.”
Head coach Matt LaFleur offered an encouraging update on his star running back shortly after the Green Bay Packers finished their 23-20 win over the Chargers.
“I don’t think it’s long term,” LaFleur said. “Certainly, I think it really looked bad. I was really concerned just seeing it live. I didn’t see a replay or anything, but seeing it live it did not look good. But he’s in good spirits in there and so hopefully it’s just a short-term deal.”
As Jones limped off the field, wide receiver Christian Watson told him the Packers were going to win for him. At the time, they were trailing, 10-7.
“I think everybody felt that way, regardless of if they said it or not,” Watson said. “I think everybody wanted to get that one done for him and we’re always in his corner.”
Jones, who if you polled the locker room would undoubtedly be the favorite teammate for how he carries himself both on and off the field, watched the game in the locker room until 13 minutes remained in the fourth quarter. He wanted to join his teammates on the sideline and ignored instructions not to do so.
“They told me to stay back here (in the locker room), but I’m like, ‘It’s just me,’ and I realize it’s only AJ (Dillon) in the game, so just to get in his ear and be there for the offense, I knew if they see me it would kind of lift them a little bit,” Jones said.
Jones watched his team do what it’s been largely unable to this season: finish a close game. With both Jones and third-string running back Emanuel Wilson sidelined — Wilson was carted off with a shoulder injury in the second quarter minutes after Jones was carted off — quarterback Jordan Love led a six-play, 75-yard touchdown drive to give the Packers a three-point lead with less than three minutes remaining.
The team captured Jones celebrating the win while walking back to the locker room and the same couple of teammates who told Jones they were going to win it for him, Watson and defensive lineman Devonte Wyatt among them, reminded him of that after the Packers had secured a much-needed victory over the Chargers to improve to 4-6.
“As soon as the game was over, they come find me and were like, ‘What did we tell you? What did we tell you?’” Jones said. “I’m glad the guys were resilient. Everybody stepped up, made a play when we needed one and I think this is a lot to build from.”
An MRI still needs to be done on Jones’ knee, but he feels good that the worst-case scenario that crossed his mind was avoided, especially after the initial pain he felt. Jones said that McKenzie, the team physician, felt good about Jones’ ACL after checking it out.
Jones turns 29 on Dec. 2 and he has one year remaining on his contract in Green Bay. A likely Packers Hall of Famer, Jones has been vital to the organization over his seven years in Green Bay as a model teammate off the field and one of the NFL’s best dual-threat running backs on it. A severe knee injury would’ve ended his 2023 season and perhaps even his Packers career given the tough decision coming this offseason to keep Jones or cut or trade him him to free up cap space.
Fortunately for Jones and the team that badly needs him, something proven true as Jones had been in and out of the lineup because of a lingering hamstring injury this season, he shouldn’t be sidelined for too long.
“If anybody’s ever talked to Aaron Jones, you know his spirits are always high,” Dillon said. “He’s obviously a great running back and a teammate, but he’s a great friend, a great leader. I was able to talk to him and he had that smile on his face. He came over to me and said he was proud of me, what I did out there and stuff. So that means the world to me, and we’re just taking it in stride, pick him up … and keep moving forward.”
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The Packers face a challenge at running back moving forward, with both Jones and Wilson unlikely to play against the Detroit Lions on Thursday morning and perhaps the following Sunday night against the Kansas City Chiefs. Dillon is the only running back left on the active roster or practice squad, so the Packers will need to sign one for at least their Thanksgiving game in Detroit.
That player figures to be Patrick Taylor, who knows Green Bay’s offense from his last couple of seasons here and is on the Patriots’ practice squad.
“We’ll have a solution for it,” LaFleur said of the running back shortage. “I promise you. We’ll have a solution. I trust Gutey (general manager Brian Gutekunst) and I know his staff is on it. He and his staff are on it. We’ll have a solution for that. But you know, hey, it’s another great challenge.”
(Photo: Patrick McDermott / Getty Images)
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