Vikings find balance through running back Aaron Jones in blowout win over Texans

Running back Aaron Jones plodded through three quarters of the Vikings’ 34-7 win over Houston, gaining 54 rushing yards on his first 15 carries.

Then Jones made good on a promise he’d been making to teammates throughout the game. With a 24-7 lead in the fourth quarter, the Vikings needed to ice the game away. Jones finally broke through the middle of the Texans’ defensive front, found daylight and sprinted 39 yards for his longest run in purple to date.

“I’d been telling them on the sidelines: ‘I’m this close, I’m this close. I’m going to break one,’” said Jones, who finished with 148 total yards and a receiving touchdown on 24 touches. “And sure enough I did. That definitely felt good.”

He should have had a rushing touchdown, too, but Jones’ 39-yard run ended at the Texans 1-yard line.

“You see me just lay there for a second,” Jones said. “But I’ll get back in the end zone.”

Jones, a former Green Bay Packers star, once again kept the Vikings offense grounded in a game they led wire to wire. He helped build the big lead, catching the 8-yard touchdown pass that gave Minnesota a 14-0 lead in the first quarter. Then he finally broke a big run that helped put the game away.

“That’s how games like this against good, physical defenses are going to be,” coach Kevin O’Connell said. “And I just thought we stayed after it. Some negative [runs] in there, but you’re not going to throw it a hundred times. You’re going to try to be balanced.”

The Vikings offensive line, according to right tackle Brian O’Neill, has felt like the aggressors this season.

“It felt like we were able to drive them off the ball in the run game,” O’Neill said. “That’s kind of been huge for us the first three weeks, just being able to move people against their will.”

Now Jones just needs to remember to do his version of the Lambeau Leap at U.S. Bank Stadium, where he has decided it will be called the “Bank Vault.” Jones said he forgot to do it after his touchdown catch in the first quarter.

“It’s coming,” Jones said. “I promise.”

Wide receiver Justin Jefferson had a dominant first half, catching all six targets for 81 yards and a touchdown. But he jammed his finger on the sixth grab, leading to X-rays during halftime. Jefferson said he checked out fine and was able to play in the second half, although he dropped a pass that he said will stick with him.

“It was nothing serious,” Jefferson said of the injury. “Everything was perfectly fine.”

After the game, Jefferson and Texans wide receiver Stefon Diggs swapped jerseys and hugs at midfield. Diggs, who led the Texans with 10 catches for 94 yards, played five seasons for the Vikings before he was traded to Buffalo in 2020. Three former Vikings players — Diggs, edge rusher Danielle Hunter and cornerback Kris Boyd — stayed after the game to sign autographs for Vikings fans.

Revenge wasn’t reserved for just former Texans edge rusher Jonathan Greenard, who had three sacks against his former team. Linebacker Kamu Grugier-Hill, a ninth-year veteran who started 20 games for Houston from 2021 to 2022, intercepted Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud on his first pass of the game. Grugier-Hill, who also ripped a pass out of the hands of Houston tight end Dalton Schultz, stepped into a larger role because starter Ivan Pace Jr. missed the game with ankle and quad injuries.

“[The interception] completely dismantled them from the jump and messed up their energy,” Greenard said of Grugier-Hill. “I’m so happy for him. I know it’s been building for some time getting back at the Texans, so I’m glad he was able to do that.”

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