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Obviously, any injury to the lower half of the body is especially troublesome for an NFL running back, whose job is to, as the name suggests, run. But he also must carry the ball, and that’s where a hand injury can be almost as difficult—especially a thumb injury, because it most directly affects the back’s ability to hold onto the ball. And that’s what makes the AJ Dillon injury so tough for the Green Bay Packers.
Dillon broke his thumb on what he called a “routine” play in Week 14, when the Packers lost to the Giants on Monday night. What that means for Week 15, he is not quite sure about yet. He’s doing all he can to make sure he can get on the field, though.
“The first thing is always just making sure I’m putting myself, you know, in the best position I can as far as, if there’s something hurt, not making it a bigger issue than it is down the road. And then the next question is will I be able to go out there and positively impact the team with me being out there. So, you know we’ve still got some days left in the week,” Dillon said at this locker on Thursday.
“Those questions, I gotta figure out myself.”
No Games Missed for Packers
It’s an especially unfortunate, this AJ Dillon injury, because not only is the thumb broken and his grip possibly affected, but now the entire NFL knows about it.
“It’s up there,” Dillon said when asked about the importance of a thumb injury. “Especially when every other team you’re going against is going to know it’s hurt.”
Dillon has prided himself in his four-year career on having never missed time because of an injury—he missed five games as a rookie, but that was because of Covid-19. He’d like to keep that track record intact.
“If I can go, I’m going to go,” he said. “I’ve played through some stuff in the past couple years or whatever that, obviously, I’m hurting but I’m good enough to go. And so I try to be out there if I can. That doesn’t change right now. … I don’t ever like to miss any time, whether it’s practice or a game or even the possibility of it,” Dillon said. “I guess if you’re looking for a silver lining, that could be it.”
Bad Timing on AJ Dillon Injury
One of the major positives that has come out of the Packers’ revival in the last month-and-a-half has been the performance of Dillon, a player many figured would be elsewhere next season once he reaches free agency. But with starter Aaron Jones injured, Dillon has been a reliable option.
He has averaged 77.6 yards from scrimmage per game out of the backfield in the last five weeks. That won’t get him a bust in Canton, but it has been just enough run support for Jordan Love’s offense, and Dillon has been someone the Packers can count on for short-yardage situations. He has also not had a fumble all year, and has only three in his career.
That sums up the difficulty of the AJ Dillon injury. He wants to keep being reliable for the Packers on one hand. On the other, he wants to be someone who does not turn the ball over, as he has been in his entire four years in the NFL.
“I feel like with that, I’m playing at a level consistency-wise where I’m helping out the team at a high level,” Dillon said.
“And so, I’m trying to keep doing that and keep building upon that, because there’s still areas where I’m like, ‘Man, I could’ve done that better.’ I’m trying to be out there as much as possible, trying to help the team win as much as possible and taking it day by day.”
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