Can Packers RB Aaron Jones go streak-busting against Saints on SNF?
The New Orleans Saints have gone almost three full years without allowing a 100-yard rusher. Forty-five straight games. It’s currently the longest streak in the NFL.
Green Bay Packers running back Aaron Jones, the NFL’s leading rusher entering Week 3, gets the next crack at busting the streak on Sunday night inside the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, where the Saints will host the Packers in primetime.
Jones has a league-best 234 rushing yards through two games, including a career-best 168 rushing yards against the Detroit Lions last week. His award-winning performance included a 75-yard touchdown run, the longest of his career and the Packers’ longest touchdown run since 2003.
Breaking a long run might be required for Jones to get over 100 yards against the Saints on Sunday night.
During the first two weeks, the Saints held Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Ronald Jones to 66 rushing yards and Las Vegas Raiders running back Josh Jacobs to 87. Teams are averaging 3.3 yards per rush against the Saints this season, and they’ve allowed only three total runs over 10 yards.
Linebacker Demario Davis told Rod Walker of NOLA.com that the streak is an important one to the Saints defense.
“It’s important to us and it’s one of our main goals, to win the line of scrimmage,” Davis said. “That’s the run game and the passing game. It’s important to make teams one dimensional. Just in general, for a good defense you have to have a good run defense. With our defensive line, it makes the work of the linebackers easy.”
Jones is actually one of the last running backs to hit the milestone against the Saints.
He rushed for over 100 yards – gaining 131, then a career-high – during the Packers’ loss to the Saints at Lambeau Field in 2017, roughly a month before the streak began. The last player to rush for over 100 yards against the Saints was Washington’s Samaje Perine in Week 11 of 2017. The most the Saints have allowed during the streak? Dalvin Cook’s 94 rushing yards during the postseason.
Jones has nine career 100-yard rushing games, including six over the last 18 games. Four times, he’s rushed for over 100 yards on the road.
The Packers lead the NFL in rushing yards through two games, largely due to the combination of elite run blocking along the offensive line and the special running talent of Jones, who can create on his own, slash through holes in the zone run scheme and hit home runs. The interior of the line, led by center Corey Linsley and guard Elgton Jenkins, have been particularly good at opening running lanes to start 2020, with six of Jones’ runs of at least 10 yards coming between the guards.
The Saints will counter with an experienced defensive line and Davis, one of the game’s best linebackers.
The Packers could be without star receiver Davante Adams on Sunday night. Will Matt LaFleur’s team need Jones to bust the Saints’ streak to get a win in the Superdome?
