Minnesota
Aaron Jones gearing up for second act as Minnesota Viking
Aaron Jones has begun his eighth NFL season, approaching a new team in Minnesota and his looming 30th birthday in December with the aplomb a running back in the NFL needs these days to stay healthy and relevant.
He’s serious about trying to make the second act of his career as long and productive as the first.
“I feel like every year, I’m getting better and better, and last year I felt like I was just about to start entering my prime,” said Jones, whose 2023 season with Green Bay was limited to 11 games because of hamstring and knee injuries.
Though Jones emerged from all that extra time in treatment with a remarkable surge down the stretch, rushing for 584 yards over the last five games including two in the playoffs, the Packers followed the script for salary cap management and released him after he balked at a steep pay cut for the second consecutive year. The rival Vikings, who ranked 29th in the league last season in rushing yards per game and tied for 27th the year before, swiftly and eagerly picked him up.
“Those last five kind of showed, like, hey, the game’s slowing down a little more and more for me,” Jones said after practice on Monday. “I can see different things, and I’m able to hit different holes or set dudes up the way I want to, versus maybe before I hadn’t been able to because the game was still a little fast.”
Most running backs don’t get the opportunity to translate such improved acumen and increased awareness into more on-field success at his age because teams often decide they’re not worth the price for all the pounding they’ve taken to date in such a pass-driven era.
Jones, who will turn 30 on Dec. 2, has been determined to surpass and even smash the average length of career at his position. He said he has studied durable predecessors in the game like Emmitt Smith and Frank Gore and even asked new teammate Harrison Smith, who at 35 is the oldest active defensive back currently on an active roster in the NFL, for advice on stretching techniques.
“The other day, it was an ongoing question in the locker room: ‘How much money would somebody have to pay you right now for you to stop playing football?’ And I was like, ‘Pretty much like no amount of money,’” said Jones, who signed a one-year contract worth $7 million. “I feel like I have a lot left in the tank. I feel like I could play eight more years.”
Jones missed a total of four games over the four previous seasons before 2023, so he’s had a relatively healthy run with the Packers since he was drafted in the fifth round out of Texas-El Paso in 2017. But he’s fully cognizant of the fragile nature of his occupation. He raved about the proactive approach the Vikings’ medical staff applies to player health, with an individualized pre-practice routine — call it “prehab” — for injury prevention that he started on his own in the summer.
“They were like: ‘We were already thinking about that. We’ve already got a card written up. You just tell us the body part, and we’ve got it,’” Jones said, later adding: “I picked my hammies. I picked my knees. I picked my ankles. Let’s warm it all up.”
Jones said this was the first offseason that he’s done this type of work. He said he feels far more fresh entering this September than he did last year.
“It’s always an experiment, every year,” Jones said. “Just when you think you’ve got it, you don’t. It’s an evolving situation.”
What ought to help keep Jones on the field is the presence of third-year backup Ty Chandler, who rushed for 461 yards and three touchdowns last season and overtook Alexander Mattison as the starter down the stretch. The Vikings could well wind up splitting snaps evenly between them.
“I’m excited to be his running mate,” Jones said. “I know he’s going to do great things this year, and I’m going to push him and be his biggest cheerleader.”
The Vikings have big plans for Jones, though, given his pass-catching skill and ability to thrive with a variety of play calls. His leadership and maturity prompted coach Kevin O’Connell to declare that Jones looked like he already has played with the Vikings for years.
“He’s just a good runner,” offensive coordinator Wes Phillips said. “He sees the field really well. He sees a lot and can tell you real time what he’s seeing and why he made a certain cut, so just having another talented back there is also a bonus for us. The offensive line looks a lot better when you have good runners back there.”
On Jefferson’s long catch, Darnold had to release the pass before Jefferson had burst past his defender. Jefferson said that such a throw requires trust.
Jefferson had built that kind of relationship with Kirk Cousins. Sunday, as Darnold was impressing, Cousins was in Atlanta, completing 16 of 26 passes for 155 yards, with one touchdown and two interceptions in an 18-10 loss at home to Pittsburgh.
We’re a long way from drawing final conclusions, but Day 1 went to the guy who has yet to bare his chest or wear gold chains at U.S. Bank Stadium.
”It’s great to be back here,” Darnold said. “It’s been a while since I played here. It’s always good to get back to MetLife.”
Since signing with the Vikings, Darnold has spoken with the kind of cautiousness often displayed by athletes who have been a punchline to millions of New Yorkers. In what he could have treated as a triumphant return, he was bland, if genial.
But he knows what’s at stake, for himself and his new team. If Darnold plays well, he will benefit from an evolved passing offense and excellent skill-position players, and be a candidate to earn a big contract and a starting job in 2025.
We are just half an hour away from kickoff at MetLife Stadium between the New York Giants and your Minnesota Vikings! It’s the first Open Thread of the year and we are officially open for business, so here’s everything you need to know about today’s game.
Date and Time: Sunday, 8 September 2024, noon Central time
Location: MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey
Television Coverage: KMSP-9 in the Twin Cities, FOX affiliates around the country, YouTube NFL Sunday Ticket
Radio Coverage: Vikings Radio Network, SiriusXM Channel 387 (Vikings feed), SiriusXM App Channel 820
Line: Vikings -1.5, Over/Under 41.5
Chris’ Prediction: Vikings 24, Giants 20
Three Keys
1) Keep Sam Darnold upright – The Giants’ front seven, featuring Dexter Lawrence, Kayvon Thibodeaux, and Brian Burns has the ability to cause nightmares for the Vikings’ offense. Darnold has plenty of weapons to work with in this offense, but if he’s running for his life he won’t be able to take advantage of them. If the Vikings can give him a clean pocket he should be able to make some plays against a suspect Giants secondary.
2) Mistake-free football – In the early part of last season, the Vikings simply could not hang onto the football, whether it was fumbling it away or throwing interceptions, and you could argue that it cost them a number of games in that early slate. The Vikings don’t have a lot of margin for error, and if they can be on the positive side of the plus-minus ratio it will go a long way towards their success.
3) Get pressure on Daniel Jones – The last time Daniel Jones saw the Vikings, he put on a performance that got him a fat new contract extension in New York. However, this is a completely different defense, and hopefully Brian Flores and all the new faces this team has brought in on that side of the ball can make things rough for him this afternoon.
Know the Foe: Big Blue View
Twitter: @DailyNorseman
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/thedailynorseman
That should be everything you need to be up to speed on this one, folks. Remember that a new Open Thread starts at the beginning of each quarter, so keep your eyes open for those and move the discussion along accordingly.
Enjoy the game, folks, and hopefully when it’s all said and done in about three hours we’ll all be able to bask in the glory of being 1-0 to start the season.
SKOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL VIKINGS!!!!
Minnesota
#13 Mavericks Prevail in Home Opener vs. #25 Beavers – Minnesota State University – Mankato Athletics
Jackson Forderer/SPX
29
1-1 , 0-1
31
Winner
2-0 , 1-0
1-1 , 0-1
29
31
2-0 , 1-0
Winner
| Team | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
0 | 15 | 0 | 14 | 29 |
|
|
0 | 14 | 7 | 10 | 31 |
Game Recap: Football |
MANKATO, Minn. — It came down to the final play of the game Saturday evening, but a 31-yard field goal from junior Matthew Jaeger proved to be the difference as #13 Minnesota State bested #25 Bemidji State 31-29.
With the win, MSU improved to 2-0 on the season, including a 1-0 NSIC record. With the loss, BSU dropped to 1-1, including a 0-1 conference record. An attendance of 6,874 was the third-largest attendance in Blakeslee Stadium history and the largest for a home opener.
A scoreless first quarter gave way to an eventful second as the Beavers carried a 15-14 lead into halftime. BSU managed three scores, including a 32-yard field goal from Joey Prondzinski and a pair of touchdown passes from Sam McGath to Brice Peters from 69 and two yards out. Senior Maven Kretche and junior Caleb Paulus blocked BSU’s extra point attempts.
MSU’s two scores of the second quarter came via a 36-yard touchdown run by senior Tony Anger and a six-yard touchdown pass from senior Hayden Ekern to junior TreShawn Watson.
The Mavericks took the lead late in the third quarter as a 13-play drive by the Mavericks was capped off with a 33-yard touchdown pass from Ekern to Watson to put MSU up 21-15 with 2:33 to go in the third.
Both teams combined for three more touchdowns in the third quarter as BSU held a 29-28 lead with 1:55 to go in the game. Peters caught his third touchdown pass from McGath with 8:09 to go, only to see the Mavericks answer right back with a 50-yard touchdown pass from Ekern to Watson with 7:32 left in the game. Trailing 28-22, BSU drove 77 yards in nine plays to reclaim the lead at 29-28 with a one-yard touchdown run by McGath with 1:55 to go.
Starting on their own 28, the Mavericks drove 58 yards down field in nine plays to the BSU 14 with 13 seconds left. After a pair of incomplete passes brought the clock down to :04, the Mavericks sent in Jaeger to attempt the 31-yard field goal. Bemidji State tried to ice Jaeger with a timeout but he was unfazed and his 31-yard kick split the uprights to give the Mavericks the 31-29 win as time expired.
Ekern finished his night completing 20-of-37 passes for 278 yards and three touchdowns. Watson posted his first three-touchdown game as a Maverick as he hauled in three touchdown passes, to go along with 107 receiving yards. Junior Jeremiah Howard caught five passes for 70 yards also, while senior Gabe Hagen caught six passes for 69 yards.
Anger led the Maverick rushing attack with 60 yards and a touchdown.
Junior Karson Dunn led the Maverick defense with nine tackles, including two for a loss and one sack. Senior Antonio Alzheimer added eight tackles as well, while senior Joey Goettl, senior Khai West and sophomore Jamal Spiyee each notched six tackles.
Minnesota State continues its season on Saturday, Sept. 14, as it travels to Wayne, Neb., to take on the Wayne State Wildcats. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Bob Cunningham Field.
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