JACKSONVILLE, FLA. – Vikings running back Aaron Jones left the game against the Jaguars on Sunday for X-rays on his ribs after absorbing a “direct hit” from Foye Oluokun on a third-quarter run, but he returned to the game to carry four times for 17 yards on the team’s final two drives in a 12-7 victory.
Jones was injured on a 7-yard run with 10 minutes left in the third quarter, when Oluokun’s helmet hit him in the ribs. He stayed doubled over on the field for several seconds, and when he tried to run off he went down again, holding his right side while the Vikings’ medical staff attended to him.
“I don’t have too much [but] bones on my sternum and my ribs, so I definitely felt that,” he said.
After an extended stretch in the team’s medical tent, Jones emerged and grabbed his helmet to go back in the game. Shortly after that, though, the Vikings called for a cart to take him to the locker room for X-rays.
Once the X-rays showed Jones’ ribs were fine, he returned to the game and finished with 88 yards on 17 carries and another 13 yards on two receptions.
“A lot of blood, sweat and tears go into it, just for these 17 games,” he said. “When a game is taken away from you, you really feel it. So I’m like, ‘I don’t want to miss any time. I want to get back out there.’ Shoutout to our trainers for taking care of me and making sure I was good to go.”
Jones said he was still in pain after returning to the game, especially on plays that required him to drop his weight on his right side. Once he grabbed a football on the sideline to test how it felt to run while carrying the ball, he said, he realized he could go back in the game.
Coach Kevin O’Connell said Jones would undergo further testing Monday, but Jones said he didn’t think the injury would affect his availability for the Vikings’ game at Tennessee next Sunday. “The initial hit, I thought it cracked something,” he said. “But I’m good.”