During a career night where he scored four touchdowns for the Green Bay Packers, NFL running back Aaron Jones lost a necklace that contained the ashes of his father Alvin Jones Sr. in a medallion shaped like a football.
Hammered 38-3 on the road by the New Orleans Saints in Week One, the Pack had to respond and make a statement in front of their home fans at Lambeau Field on Monday night.
That they did, through a 35-17 rout of their divisional, Midwest rivals the Detroit Lions, with Jones outstanding by crossing the line into the endzone on four occasions.
The performance was bittersweet for the 26-year-old, however.
Aaron Jones wore a football chain that contained his late father's ashes during his 4 TD performance tonight but lost it in the end zone. The grounds crew is still looking for it.
"If there was any place to lose it, I know that's where my dad would want me to lose it." pic.twitter.com/u96XaV22FT
But he also lost the medallion – possibly when making a second quarter TD catch which was the second of three receiving scores complemented by a rushing effort – and was not able to find it post-win either.
“If there was any place to lose it, that’s where my dad would’ve wanted me to lose it,” Jones explained later.
“So I know he’s smiling.”
Packers’ RB Aaron Jones became the first player to record four touchdowns on Monday Night Football since Marshall Faulk did it against the Buccaneers in 2000.
There to witness their relative become the first player to score four touchdowns on Monday Night Football since the year 2000 were 15 family members, though sadly Alvin Sr. was not one of them.
“I’m used to turning around and seeing my dad in the stands and just smiling to know everything is OK,” lamented Jones.
“So when I was seeing them, I was good.”
Probed on what he would have told his father after such a stellar showing, Jones confirmed: “[I would] just go home and tell him: ‘I did it, Dad’.”
Also asked which was the favorite of his quartet at the Lions’ expense, he laughed and said: “All of them.”
“Well, actually, it’s probably the first one. I kind of saluted my dad – tapped my chest and pointed up to him, so probably that one.”
Silencing critics with a faultless night that took in 22 out of 27 pass completions, 255 yards and four touchdowns of his own, quarterback Aaron Rodgers remarked that his teammate was a “great human being” and had “been through a lot”.
“He adds a lot to our team as a player. He’s just an exceptional player,” Rodgers went on.
“I was teasing him at training camp when he missed a few days in a row, [but it’s] just different when you see the film and No. 33 is back there.
“He’s just a different type of back, a special player, but the person is really a great person,”
