Aaron Rodgers passes three of his four touchdown passes towards Aaron Jones, as the Packers beat the Lions to win their first season-opening victory. (1:16).
GREEN BAY (Wis.) -- It's a good thing that the Green Bay Packers broke with tradition and gave Aaron Jones the money they thought they would be hesitant to give to a running back in free-agent last offseason.
He is the best thing for the Packers right now.
He is also the reason why the Packers aren't 0-2 since 2006, two years after Aaron Rodgers became their starting quarterback.
Jones scored four touchdowns on a Monday night that looked very much like the Packers' season-opening loss against the New Orleans Saints. With all the wide-open Packers receivers and a lack of a rush, Jones was able to find the end zone on four occasions. This led to Green Bay's victory from a halftime deficit to win 35-17 at Lambeau Field.
This fifth-year running back put on another dynamic performance, which makes his absence in Week 1 even more concerning. Although it wasn't the 239 yard day Jones had against the Lions last season, his total of 115 yards from scrimmage (67 running and 48 passing on 23 touches), was just what the Packers needed after losing Jones to the Saints.
All season long, follow the NFL
Full schedule | Standings
Each team should have depth charts
Injuries
Football Power Index rankings
Additional NFL coverage
The Packers signed Jones to a $48 million, four-year deal in March. It included a $13,000,000 signing bonus. This was the biggest contract ever for a running back in Packers' history.
It was because Jones was important to Matt LaFleurs offense. However, you wouldn't have known it from the opening with Jones carrying five times for nine yard and receiving two passes for 13 yard at New Orleans.
Jones ran for 1,084 yards in two consecutive rushing seasons under LaFleur. Jones rushed for 1,084 yards in 2019 and was the NFL's leading rusher with 19 touchdowns. He scored 23 touchdowns in the season that included the playoffs, which was the most ever for a single season in NFL history. He added 1,104 yards of rushing to his total, despite missing two games due to a calf injury. This was his first Pro Bowl.
Jones's second four-touchdown contest in his career was Monday. However, Jones became the Packers' first running back to catch three touchdown passes since 1942 (Andy Uram against Chicago Cardinals). Since Danny Woodhead's 2015 game, no NFL running back has ever caught three TD passes in a single game. In 2019, Jones had three receiving touchdowns.
Rodgers, it is certain, finally got going.
Rodgers made four touchdown passes just like he did immediately after his previous losses of 25-plus points. One was a pass he threw to tight end Robert Tonyan, a 22-yard post route, to give the Packers a 21-17 lead.
Rodgers' pinpoint accuracy was also back. Rodgers completed 81.5% (22-of-27) for 255 yards. This included a 50-yard deep pass to Davante Adams, which set up the Tonyan touchdown. It was Rodgers' second touchdown to running backs or tight ends. The other was in Week 4 of last season's game against Atlanta. It was three to Tonyan, and one to Jones in that game. Rodgers was 10-of-10 for 108 yards with the four TDs when he was aiming at running backs or tight ends.
Even though the defense looked disorganized for the first six quarters of the season, it seemed to have figured out how to correct its coverage and create a pass rush. With 8:50 remaining in the fourth quarter against Detroit, the Packers recorded their first sack of the season. However, it was a good thing that Rashan Gary walked into the mishandling of Jared Goff's ball to pitch a second-half shutout.
The Packers will have to play a more comprehensive game at some point, possibly next Sunday night at San Francisco 49ers. This was enough for Monday night.
