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Green Bay Packers need Aaron Jones to make offense run efficiently

The Washington Redskins’ Fabian Moreau, left, stops the Packers’ Geronimo Allison after a catch during the second half Sunday in Green Bay, Wis. (AP photo)

GREEN BAY, Wis. — The Green Bay Packers had a four-week stretch earlier this season where Matt LaFleur’s offense couldn’t miss.

That now seems a distant memory.

The offense has been up and down the past five weeks, including two lackluster efforts on the West Coast in losses to the Los Angeles Chargers and San Francisco. The Packers (10-3) mustered just enough offense on Sunday to put away the Washington Redskins, 20-15.

“I think we’re just finding different ways to win,” Aaron Rodgers said Sunday. “It might be ugly at times to maybe some folks but we ran the ball today for 180 yards or so and got Aaron Jones going. Different teams have thrown different things at us. I just think we need to be a little more consistent at times.”

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WHAT’S WORKING

Whatever LaFleur does to fix the offense, the plan better start with six words: Get the ball to Aaron Jones.

The third-year running back had 192 yards from scrimmage (134 rushing, 58 receiving) on 22 touches Sunday, joining wide receiver Don Hutson (1942) as the only players in franchise history to have two games in a season with 190-plus yards from scrimmage on 25 or fewer touches.

“I think the biggest thing with him is how we’re trying to utilize him in the pass game,” Packers running backs coach Ben Sirmans said of Jones before the season started.

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WHAT’S NOT WORKING

Green Bay’s offense continues to struggle on first and third downs. The Packers were 5 for 13 on third down on Sunday.

“Nobody’s saying it’s going to be the prettiest every single week,” Rodgers said. “The good thing is I think we have a good mindset about it. We watch it. We critique it. We talk about what we want to do differently. But it comes down to execution. When you’re 5 for 13 on third and down, we’re pretty bad on first down, you’re not going to have a dynamic day on offense.”

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