Packers safety Josh Jones on Clubhouse Live: 'You've just got to let guys play'

Green Bay Packers safety Josh Jones co-hosted Monday's Clubhouse Live, USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin’s live weekly football show.

Among the topics he touched on were bouncing back from injury, battling the Vikings and hitting quarterbacks. The show can be seen live at The Clubhouse Sports Pub & Grill in downtown Appleton or at clubhouselive.com.

Here are select and edited answers from the interview:

REPLAY:  Clubhouse Live with Packers safety Josh Jones

Q: What's the status of your ankle injury? When do you expect to be back on the field?

Jones: I'll be back next week - 100 percent. For sure I'll be back next week. I'm feeling good. The ankle's good. Rehab went pretty well. So I'll be back full-go. They'll probably ease me into it. We'll see how it goes. But I'll for sure play next Sunday (against Washington) and go from there.

Q: You've been out for a while. What's the challenge you'll be facing as you try to get up to game-speed as quickly as possible?

Jones: The biggest challenge for me will be football shape. During my rehab, what we do during practice is get a lot of conditioning in as we can. Say for instance, if it's a two-hour practice, then I'm working out for those two hours. You can work out for as much as you want, but there's a difference between in-shape and football shape. That's two totally different things. But that'll probably be the biggest challenge - getting back into football shape. The last time I practiced was like Aug. 29, I want to say. So, it has been about three weeks.

Q: Sunday's contest against the Vikings, which ended in a 29-29 tie, included a questionable roughing the passer call against Clay Matthews that helped the Vikings extend a game that looked like was going to be won by the Packers. What was Mike McCarthy's message to the team Monday as you begin the process of moving on from the frustration of that outcome and preparing for your Week 3 matchup against Washington?

Jones: Obviously, we're not refs. The only thing we do is just go out there and try to perform to the best of our abilities and give our team every opportunity to win. But as far as the message, everything that we've been through the past two weeks is going to make us a better team going forward. We went in there (Monday), corrected the film. I feel like guys got better. There weren't any heads hung low. Guys were in good spirits. So, that's a good sign.

Q: Given what we've seen these first two weeks - and particularly the call against Matthews - what is your definition of roughing the passer? Was that the chatter in the locker room Monday?

Jones: Kurt Warner, he tweeted something about the (roughing) calls, the penalties nowadays. Back when other guys played - years ago - this game wasn't as soft as it was. I'm going to just say that. I understand protecting the franchise quarterback. You've invested so much money in (him) - I understand that. But there comes a point in time when you've just got to let guys play. You've just got to let guys play. I'm pretty sure (fans) don't come to the game, or watch the game on TV, just to see flags thrown everywhere. 

I don't know with all of this CTE stuff going on and just the whole aspect of trying to protect the players, I don't know if it's going to change. I would hope so. But it's hard to say. ... I don't know what those guys in New York are thinking, man. They do a good job of keeping this game safe, trying to keep the game safe. But sometimes, it takes away from the fun. 

Q: With these new tackling rules in place, is there a fear for you that you'll be thinking instead of reacting when you get back on the field?

Jones: In my case, no. In some other guys' case ... you've got guys making the league minimum. A lot of guys, you hit a guy the wrong way and guys don't want to get fined. Guys don't want to get fined $20,000 or $25,000. Then all of a sudden, you're playing for free. That's a guy's whole game check - a week's worth of pay. So now you want me to play for free and expect me to go out there and try to play my game, try to play fast and physical like this game is supposed to be played. This game was supposed to be played - you're supposed to get dirty. It's supposed to be a bunch of big hits. It's physical. That's why we started playing the game of football - because we like physicality. I know that's why I started playing.