Aaron Jones' injury-plagued 2023 season went from bad to worse during the Packers' Week 11 matchup with the Chargers.
Jones suffered a knee injury while handling a carry in the second quarter of the contest. The Packers running back was tackled by Nick Williams for a short gain, but Jones' legs got caught up under Williams as he was twisted to the ground.
Jones stayed down on the field after the injury and required assistance getting off the field. He was in obvious pain coming to the sideline.
Aaron Jones had to be helped off the field after suffering a leg injury pic.twitter.com/X33Mv5j9yq
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) November 19, 2023
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Aaron Jones injury update
Eventually, Jones was carted off wearing a towel over his head. The Packers first announced that he was questionable to return to the game before officially ruling him out because of the knee injury.
#Packers injury update: RB Aaron Jones (knee) & RB Emanuel Wilson (shoulder) have both been ruled out.#LACvsGB
— Green Bay Packers (@packers) November 19, 2023
While the initial play and Jones' reaction as he left the field indicated it might be a long-term issue, Packers coach Matt LaFleur was more optimistic following the game, telling reporters he hoped it would be a "short-term deal."
Matt LaFleur says he doesn’t think Aaron Jones’ injury is long term: “It looked bad. Seeing it live, it didn’t look good. But he’s in good spirits in there, so hopefully it’s just a short-term deal.”
— Ryan Wood (@ByRyanWood) November 19, 2023
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Packers RB depth chart
The Packers entered Week 11 with three running backs on their active roster. They were as follows:
| Rank | Player |
| 1 | Aaron Jones |
| 2 | A.J. Dillon |
| 3 | Emanuel Wilson |
Jones and Dillon typically split snaps, though Jones typically receives a larger share of the workload. As such, it was anticipated that Dillon would take on some extra snaps after Jones went down with Wilson serving as the complement to the fourth-year back.
However, Wilson suffered a shoulder injury shortly after being mixed into the rotation and was ruled out for the contest. That left Dillon as the only healthy running back on the Green Bay roster.
So, Jordan Love and the Packers passing game were asked to do a lot of heavy lifting on offense in the second half.