ESPN: Packers' Aaron Jones Expected to Play After Tests on Ankle Injury Are Negative

Green Bay fell to an ugly 3-6 on the season with a 15-9 loss to the Detroit Lions on Sunday. What's more, Matt Schneidman of The Athletic reported running back Aaron Jones was walking with "a very noticeable limp and grimace in the locker room postgame" after exiting the contest with an ankle injury.

The good news for the Packers, though, is that Adam Schefter of ESPN reported Monday that X-rays came back negative and Jones should be able to play against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday in Week 10.

"A little sore," Jones told reporters after the game, per Rob Demovsky of ESPN. "I was fine. They sent me for X-rays. X-rays were fine, but they decided to hold me [out]. It was frustrating, because I felt like I could have went, but they were being smart. I definitely respect them, because after I stopped moving around and I sat still for a while, it got kind of sore. I respect them."

The injury to Jones was just one of a number of potentially serious injuries the Packers suffered Sunday, as Demovsky noted:

Jones had nine carries for 25 yards and two catches for 20 yards prior to leaving the game, which left the Packers without arguably their best offensive weapon.

Aaron Rodgers threw three interceptions, AJ Dillon averaged a mere 3.1 yards per carry and the offense managed just a single touchdown. The unit missed the two-point conversion after the score and never held a lead in the loss to the 2-6 Lions.

The timing of Jones' injury was particularly concerning for Green Bay considering he looked to turn the corner on the season during the Week 8 loss to the Buffalo Bills. He finished with 143 rushing yards in that loss after scoring two receiving touchdowns the previous game against the Washington Commanders.

Those were his first two touchdowns since a Week 2 win over the Chicago Bears.

Detroit was an ugly 30th in the league in rushing yards per game coming into Sunday's contest, so it would have followed that Green Bay had a game plan that was reliant on Jones.

Yet the injury, deficit it faced and overall struggles for the offense didn't help as the free-falling franchise lost a fifth consecutive game. This is a team that entered the 2022 campaign with Super Bowl-or-bust expectations, but now even the playoffs seem like a long shot at this point.

A long-term Jones injury would only worsen those playoff odds.