Jones Owns End Zone as Packers Beat Lions

 By Eric Goska

Lions fans invaded Lambeau Field's parking lot ahead of
the game between Green Bay and Detroit.

Does Aaron Jones have a future in real estate?

The Packers’ dynamic running back found the end zone four times in Green Bay’s 35-17 victory over Detroit. He repeatedly closed the sale in one or the other of the two most sought-after plots of land at Lambeau Field.

Used sparingly (7 touches) in the opener against the Saints, Jones’ workload (23 touches) increased against the Lions. He rushed for 67 yards on 17 carries and caught six passes for another 48.

But it was his four scores that mattered most. The Green and Gold went 4-for-4 in the red zone thanks to Jones who capped drives with three touchdown receptions and one on the ground.

In grabbing four, Jones became only the second player (Sterling Sharpe, 1994) in Packers history to score a touchdown in all four quarters of a single game.

Jones’ tied other records as well. He, Johnny Blood and Andy Uram are the only backs in team annals to have caught three TD passes in one game. He, Paul Hornung (2), Jim Taylor (3) and Sharpe (2) are the only Packers to have scored four TDs more than once.

(Jones rushed for four touchdowns in Dallas in 2019.)

Jones has been a producer of points since being selected out of the University of Texas at El Paso in the fifth round of the 2017 NFL Draft. Has scored at least one TD in 31 of the 56 regular-season games in which he has played, and Green Bay has gone 23-8 (.742) in those contests.

Moreover, he has amassed his haul at a lightning-quick pace. Only Taylor (51) and Ahman Green (47) had as many or more TDs in their first 56 regular-season games as Packers.

Jones was the Green and Gold’s not-so-secret weapon inside the Detroit 20-yard line. The Packers ran 13 plays there and gained 52 yards. Jones accounted for 48 on 10 touches and registered all six of the team’s first downs in the red zone.

Monday night was the second time Jones has scored multiple touchdowns on pass receptions in a game. He had two in a 31-24 win in Kansas City in 2019.

Historically, the Packers have done well when one of their backs catches two or more TD passes. Starting with Marty Norton in 1925, the Green and Gold have gone 22-2 (.917) when a running back reaches the end zone at least twice through the air.

The team is 5-0 at Lambeau Field.

In piling up four scores, Jones – who had 19 in 2019 and 11 last season – becomes the odds-on favorite to lead the team in touchdowns this season.  Were he to finish with 10 or more, he would join Don Hutson (1941-45), Taylor (1960-64), Sharpe (1992-94) and Davante Adams (2016-18) as the only men to have scored at least 10 TDs in three or more seasons consecutively.

EZ (End Zone) Living
Packers players who scored the greatest number of TDs in their first 56 regular-season games.

    TDs        Player                            Years
      51          Jim Taylor                     1958-1961
      47          Ahman Green               2000-2003
      47          Aaron Jones                  2017-2021
      39          Don Hutson                  1935-1940
      37          Paul Hornung               1957-1961

      37          Antonio Freeman         1995-1999
      36          Bill Howton                  1952-1956
      32          Randall Cobb               2011-2015