No Respect, No Respect

Aaron Jones, remember that name, he might be a trivia question one day. He is the modern day version of the great standup comedian Rodney Dangerfield and the second coming of Jeff Janis because he doesn’t get any respect from Head Coach Mike McCarthy, Offensive Coordinator Edger Bennett (yes, he is the OC) and Running Back Coach Ben Sirmans.

Despite being voted the NFL “Offensive Rookie of the Week” after rushing for a season-high 125 yards on 19 carries for an average of 6.6 yards a carry and scoring a touchdown while also catching one pass for 9 yards, the Packers seems to be pushing Ty Montgomery back from 5 broken ribs just 17 days ago to return this week and reclaim his starting job against the Vikings.

In just 2 games Jones leads the Packers in rushing with 174 yards on 32 carries. In 4 games Montgomery has rushed for 152 yards on 46 carries for an average of 3.3 yards a carry while catching, which is his speciality, 18 passes for 129 yards and a 7.8 average.

And yet it seems they can’t wait to bench the rookie even though Montgomery would have to wear a flak jacket to play. The hatred the coaching staff must have for rookies starting, in general, and for Jones, in specific, is total madness. What does a rookie have to do to gain some respect from these dinosaurs. He was NFL “Offensive Rookie of the Week” for darn sakes. Didn’t they get the memo?

Just to fill out the analogy with Janis. All he would do would catch touchdowns when he was allowed to play to in the preseason and he also caught one of Aaron Rodgers “Hail Mary” passes against the Cardinals in the playoffs two years ago. All Janis does is produce, but he only gets to play if all 3 of the starters and Geronimo Allison are injured.

Jones is the second of three running backs drafted by Ted “I’m the Greatest” Thompson in the 2017 draft when he determined that converted wide receiver Ty Montgomery couldn’t handle the load of being the full-time starting running back for the Green Bay Packers.

Last year heading into the season Thompson’s running back corps was Eddie Lacy, James Starks and Jhurell Pressley claimed off of waivers from the Vikings after Brandon Burks was released after the final preseason game. Pressley was cut after the first game leaving the Packers with only Lacy and Starks at running back for the first five games until Lacy was injured against the Cowboys and placed on injured reserve.

Starks was suffering from an injury, so Montgomery took over as the starting running back with Don Jackson, who was brought up from the practice squad and Knile Davis, who was acquired in a trade with the Chiefs. Davis lasted just 2 games before being cut and Jackson hurt his hand on his first carry against the Cowboys, but was forced to start the next week against the Falcons when Starks wasn’t still ready to play and Davis wasn’t either.

Jackson played Week 9 against the Colts, but was inactive the next week against the Titans before being put on injured reserve with a knee injury. Starks returned from knee surgery after a 4 game absence and started the next four games before being lost for the season with a concussion he got in a car crash. He remained on the roster for the remainder of the season despite being unable to play.

The Packers picked up Christine Michaels off waivers from the Seahawks, who cut him despite being their leading rusher, when Jackson was put on injured reserve and he spent the remainder of the season – the last 6 games – playing behind Montgomery with his best game being against the Bears with 4 carries for 45 yards that included a 42-yard touchdown run. He returned 3 kickoffs for 64 yards.

This year Montgomery was always thought of as the starting running back as Lacy, Starks, and Michael were released, thusly the drafting of Jamaal Williams in the 4th round (134), Jones in the 5th (182) and Davante Mays in the 7th (238).

Jones led the team in rushing in the preseason with 105 yards on 19 carries averaging 5.5 yards a carry. Williams carried the ball 25 times for 61 yards averaging 2.4 yards a carry while Mays carried the ball 16 times for 43 yards averaging 2.7 yards.

Montgomery had only 6 carries for 31 yards (5.2) and undrafted free agents Kalif Phillips had 12 carries for 30 yards (2.5) and William Stanback had 2 carries for 0 yards. Phillips and Stanback didn’t make the team.

So when the first game came up you would expect Montgomery, Jones and most likely Williams as the running back corps. However, for some odd reason, yet to be explained, Jones was inactive with Williams and Mays behind Montgomery. Talk about getting no respect.

Jones has been active since the 2nd game, but didn’t play until two games ago when Montgomery broke his ribs against Bears. He immediately produced scoring his first NFL touchdown while rushing for 49 yards on 13 carries.

Williams has carried the ball in every game this season and his game logs are not stellar, to say the least.

Preseason: Game 1: 4-14-3.5 ave. Game 2 which he started: 7-12-1.7. Game 3: 3-4-1.3. Game 4 which he started: 11-31-2.8.

Season: Game 1: 2-9-4.5. Game 2: 2-6-3.0. Game 3: 1-6-6.0. Game 4: 4-11-2.8. Game 5: 1-1-1.0. Totals: 10-33-3.3.

Mays’ preseason stats were: Game 1: no carries. Game 2: 5-13-2.6. Game 3: 5-12-2.4. Game 4: 6-18-3.0. He’s been active for 3 games with no carries from scrimmage.

We’ll see what happens Sunday when the offense comes out. If Montgomery is the starting running back I will consider it a travesty of major proportions.