Packers-Vikings have postgame fight, Aaron Jones gets hit in face as he comes in to ‘de-escalate’ situation

MINNEAPOLIS – Taking a shot in the chin isn’t something foreign to Green Bay Packers running back Aaron Jones, but when it happens after the game when the two teams are supposed to be shaking hands, it’s not normal.

Jones went in to a shouting match between Packers rookie receiver Dontayvion Wicks and Minnesota Vikings cornerback Andrew Booth that took place as the two teams were gathering together for the postgame handshake following the Packers’ 33-10 victory over the Vikings at US Bank Stadium.

“I came up and he was in Wicks’ face, and as soon as I saw them cussing at each other, I walked up and got punched in the face,” Jones said. “I grabbed his facemask. I tried to de-escalate it, break it up, send him back to his sideline.

“We’re here to shake hands and be good sports, not fight after the game because you lost or someone was talking trash on the sideline. That’s between the (lines). Once that’s done, we’re all men.”

Wicks, who was inactive and not in uniform, characterized the incident between him and Booth as nothing much. But replays showed that the two were jawing at each other as players around them were starting to shake hands.

Asked if Booth pushed him, Wicks said, “No, I pushed him. He was all up in my face, and I was trying to get him out of my face. But it wasn’t a big deal. It was nothing.”

Wicks did say he and Booth knew each other, but he wouldn’t say what the two were saying to each other or who started it.

But it definitely was different to see a scrum break out after the game was over.

“Not in the NFL,” linebacker Christian Welch said. “The game’s over and guys are shaking hands. But one of their guys is mouthing off and I can just tell by the way he’s walking over there, that something was happening. I went over to see what was happening and I saw Aaron come over there and you know he’s just trying break it up.

“It’s not something you’d expect to happen after a game.”

After Jones grabbed Booth’s facemask, some Vikings players came over and joined the small scrum, but Jones quickly stepped away and explained he was just trying to break things up.

“I tried to shove him back on his side and some of his players saw that,” Jones said. “And then I explained it to them and they were like, ‘All right, we’re good, we’re good.’ I mean, I was breaking it up.

“I don’t have no reason to fight that man. I saw one of my young receivers there and I’m like, ‘I’m getting him out of there. Let me handle them.’ And then I got hit and I was like, ‘Wow.’”

In the end, Jones had a sore knee but he left the stadium without any marks to his face.

Jones, who rushed 20 times for 120 yards, told sideline reporter Melissa Stark that his goal was to calm everyone down.

"I see one of our players having an interaction and they start shoving," Jones said. "I start to de-escalate."

Social media reacted to the post-game fight.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Packers-Vikings postgame fight takes place on 'Sunday Night Football'