Minnesota Vikings running back Aaron Jones had a little fun at the expense of his old team after scoring a touchdown against the Packers in Green Bay on Sunday, November 15.
Jones tallied 63 total offensive touchdowns, 45 on the ground and 18 through the air, during his seven-year career in green and gold, which included 97 games played and 85 starts. Thus, across that run, the former Pro Bowl RB had dozens of opportunities to celebrate a score with the home fans in traditional fashion via the iconic Lambeau Leap.
He said ahead of the team’s Week 10 game in Green Bay that he hoped for an opportunity to celebrate a TD in the same fashion, only this time as a member of the visiting Vikings. As it turns out, Jones got his chance late in a dominant first half by Minnesota.
“Aaron Jones said this week he wanted to get his Lambeau Leap in as a member of the Vikings,” Ben Goessling of the Star Tribune reported on X. “He found a group of Vikings fans in the front row of the north end zone and pointed to them after he scored, before Wisconsin native Max Bredeson joined him. 17-0 Vikings.”
Jones had tallied 32 yards on seven carries alongside that touchdown as of late in the third quarter.
Aaron Jones Carried Vikings Offense Early in Season
Jones has spent the past three years as a member of the Vikings and basically carried the team through a four-game stretch between Weeks 2-5, during which fellow running back Jordan Mason was on the injured reserve list (IR) with a broken thumb and the quarterback play between Kyler Murray and Carson Wentz was somewhere between bad and abysmal.
Despite that, it hasn’t been the easiest season for the 32-year-old veteran. Jones has split work with Mason since his return in Week 6, while the Vikings seriously explored adding an elite-level running back like Jonathan Taylor of the Indianapolis Colts ahead of the trade deadline last week.
The Vikings have fielded among the best defenses and special teams units in the NFL this season, while the offense has been among the very worst groups even despite Jones’ herculean efforts of usage and production in the early going of the campaign.
Vikings Trade for QB Kirk Cousins Should Open Offense Up for Aaron Jones
Minnesota never did deal for a running back, but attacked the offensive problems another way by trading for quarterback Kirk Cousins, formerly of the Las Vegas Raiders.
That meant Jones remained in a primary role as part of the Vikings’ two-headed attack out of the offensive backfield. Jones made the most of it on Sunday by scoring against the Packers while playing at his old stomping grounds.
Heading into Week 10, Jones had tallied 474 rushing yards and two TDs on the ground as well as 16 receptions for 95 yards through the air.
Vikings’ Aaron Jones Taunts Packers in Return to Lambeau Field