The Green Bay Packers pulled out a miraculous win over the New Orleans Saints, but it's obvious they need star running back Aaron Jones back on the field.

The Packers offense just isn't the same without their dynamic playmaker in the backfield and it shows. The offense, as a whole, lacks explosion and Jones' ability to line up all over the place is a major advantage that allows the unit to create and exploit mismatches. 

But, another layer was added on Sunday's win over the New Orleans Saints: experience.

If the Packers lost, there would've been a multitude of factors that contributed to their 1-2 record and two big factors would've been Emanuel Wilson's poor throw on the offense's first fourth down conversion attempt of the game and the miscommunication between Jordan Love and Patrick Taylor on the fourth down conversion attempt to start the fourth quarter.

We'll start with Wilson since it's the easiest to diagnose. He simply made a poor throw. If Jones is in on that play, there's a much greater chance -an exponentially greater chance, actually- that Jones makes the throw and then who knows what happens next. It's that simple, really.

What a call on fourth-and-2, and it would’ve worked had Emanuel Wilson made a better throwback to Love, who had to pick it off the ground. pic.twitter.com/Wo00kbBsK3

— Rob Demovsky (@RobDemovsky) September 24, 2023

The next is the miscommunication between Love and Taylor on a 4th and 2 from the Saints 13. All-Pro linebacker Demario Davis was playing off-man coverage on Taylor on the perimeter and was lined up about 10-yards off Taylor. The throw was there, but Love and Taylor couldn't make the play.

"So the fourth down, to be honest with you: We're looking at the matchup of [tight end Luke] Musgrave and what he was going to have, but Demario Davis was was covering PT and he was, I don't know, 7-8 yards off," LaFleur explained Sunday. "And I think he [Love] looked out there and saw it open. Now I have to go back and look at the timing of it, but it is a three-step route. And quite honestly, I was looking the other way. And I just saw the ball go flying, incomplete. So in that situation, what I told Jordan was, if you liked the matchup, you can take it; if not take the delay and we'll get three points. And I can't fault him for the decision that he made as far as the execution."

Watching the play, it does look like the misfire is more on Love than it is Taylor, but there's a good chance the miscommunication doesn't happen between Love and Jones because of their experience with each other. Taylor is on the practice squad, therefore he doesn't get to practice with Love as near as much as Jones does and obviously, starters have better cohesiveness with each other.

"It was just a miscommunication between both of us," Love said after the game.

Jones hasn't played since Week 1, but he's still fourth on the team in receiving yards and leads all RBs in receiving yards. He's also second on the team in rushing behind A.J. Dillon. 

The Packers were optimistic Jones would play against the Saints, but that obviously didn't happen. On Monday, it didn't sound like things were in line to change for this week, either.

"I mean, we were hopeful for yesterday, but it just it didn't work out," said LaFleur. "And we'll see where we're at going into Thursday. I think we're in a similar spot. So we'll just see how they respond and how they're feeling because the last thing we want to do is jeopardize these guys for a long period of time for for one game. I mean, every game is extremely important, extremely meaningful, but we've got a lot of ball in front of us and obviously, you know, we got a great test in front of us and it would certainly help us if those two guys were available."

Regardless, the Packers need Jones back ASAP and before Thursday night would be the best-case scenario, obviously.

Packers’ slew of big injuries are actually helping the team

Sometimes it works out like this.

Featured image via Jamie Sabau-USA TODAY Sports