A vicious blow to the head lit the fire.

Redskins running back Matt Jones had taken a handoff late in the third quarter of Washington’s game against the Giants on Sept. 25. He barreled through a hole on the right side of the line and picked up five yards before New York linebacker Devon Kennard got him by the leg and sent him stumbling to the turf. Then safety Nat Berhe flew in from the secondary and drilled Jones in the back of the head with his helmet.

Jones fumbled but, despite seeing stars, quickly recovered.

The hit — completely unnecessary in Jones’s mind — didn’t draw a penalty. But it did take some time for the running back to get up, and trainers tended to him before ushering him to the sideline against his will.

“I was so mad after that hit,” Jones recalled. “It was — I kind of snapped. I was like, ‘I’ve got kids, man! I love my little girls!’

1 of 84 Full Screen Autoplay Close Week 16: Washington 41, Bears 21 at Soldier Field Week 15: Carolina Panthers 26, Redskins 15 at FedEx Field. Week 14: Redskins 27, Philadelphia Eagles 22, at Lincoln Financial Field. Week 13: Arizona Cardinals 31, Redskins at University of Phoenix Staduim Week 12: Dallas Cowboys 31, Redskins 26 at AT&T Stadium Week 11: Washington 42, Green Bay 24, at FedEx Field. Week 9: Washington 26, Minnesota Vikings 20 at FedEx Field. Week 8: Washington 27, Bengals 27, at Wembley Field in London. Week 7: Washington 17, Lions 20 at Ford Field. Week 6: Washington 27, Eagles 20 at FedEx Field. Week 5: Washington 16, Ravens 10 in Baltimore. Week 4: Washington 31, Cleveland Browns 20 at FedEx Field. Week 3: Washington 29, NY Giants 27 at MetLife Stadium. Skip Ad × Photos from the Redskins season so far View Photos A look at the standout images from Washington’s games in 2016. Caption Washington went 8-7-1 and missed the playoffs by a whisker. Here’s a look at the standout images from 2016. Reed celebrated his touchdown, which he hoped would set the stage for a dramatic Washington win. Nick Wass/Associated Press Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue.

“J-Reed was asking me, ‘Bro, you good?’ ” Jones continued, referring to tight end Jordan Reed. “I was so locked in on my family and my girls, and from that point on, I was like, ‘I’m playing football for those girls. That’s what my motivation is. That’s what I’m playing for.’ ”

Jones returned in the fourth quarter a different back. After gaining 19 yards on seven carries during the first three quarters of the game, Jones accumulated 46 yards on 10 carries and helped lead Washington’s 29-27 comeback victory.

Against Cleveland last Sunday, Jones ran with the same fire, rushing for 117 yards and a touchdown on 22 carries. The second half saw him produce his best work: 79 yards and the touchdown on 11 carries as the Redskins came from behind to beat the Browns, 31-20.

[Redskins vs. Ravens: Five story lines to follow]

Jones finally looked like the back General Manager Scot McCloughan had touted so highly since drafting him in the third round out of Florida in 2015. It was the type of performance McCloughan and Coach Jay Gruden had hoped for when they let three-time 1,000-yard rusher Alfred Morris depart to the Dallas Cowboys via free agency last spring.

It was a welcome departure from the inconsistency Jones exhibited last season and the first 2½ regular season games this season. “I didn’t have that edge,” Jones acknowledged.

The Washington Post's Scott Allen and Keith McMillan break down the Redskins' Week 4 victory over the Browns. (Thomas Johnson/The Washington Post)

Jones paused as he sat on a plush leather couch outside the locker room at Redskins Park. The player whose jersey is No. 31 looked down at the football in his hands. It was labeled, “31 2 yd TD run 10/2/16 4th Qtr vs Browns” and will soon be shipped to his mother in Florida, who last week attended her first pro football game at FedEx Field.

‘Fighting my tail off’

“You talk about needing to dig deep and fight out what you’re playing for, and for me, I had nothing,” Jones, 23, said. “I don’t want to say nothing, but I just was like, I’m playing football because. You know how they have the speakers that come in and talk about motivation, and they say, ‘Find why you’re playing this game.’ I’m always sitting in the back, just like, ‘I don’t know. I’m just good at it.’ Now it feels good knowing why I’m playing football.”

Jones doesn’t know why it took so long for things to click. Daughters Aniyah, 4, and Katlin, 2, were born while he attended the University of Florida. But the hit to his head two weeks ago sent his thoughts to them, his stepdaughter and his unborn son, who is due in the spring. Suddenly, Jones said, he realized the importance of the opportunity at hand.

“I feel like I’m at the point of my life where I’m a starter right now, and I don’t want to take it for granted because stuff can happen just like that,” he said. “So, I’m fighting my tail off now to be great. Fighting my tail off for my girls and my family.”

Jones is the youngest of three boys raised by their mother, Barbara Singleton, in Tampa. She got all three involved in youth football, and since Jones never knew his father, his brother Daryl Jones Jr., who is six years older, took him under his wing. (His oldest brother, Josh Jenrette, is nine years Jones’s senior.)

Jones was 12 when his mother remarried, but those early years left a painful mark.

“Throughout my whole life, I watched my mama struggle. It took a toll on me,” Jones said. “Sometimes I would just sit and cry to see my mama come home and working her tail off for me. Sometimes I couldn’t get the shoes I wanted. I was still so spoiled to the point where I didn’t understand, and I’d be like, ‘Ma, why can’t I get these shoes?’ She’d tell me, ‘I can’t afford it right now.’ ’’

He continued, “I didn’t know my daddy. I look at my two little girls and I could never see myself walking away from them or saying, ‘I don’t have it right now.’ So, it hurts me to my heart seeing what I had to go through for my mom, and it makes me a stronger dad today.”

Jones’s mother and brothers stressed to him that football could serve as his ticket to college, to the NFL and out of poverty. Daryl ran his little brother through training exercises and football drills that he himself had learned from high school practices.

“I challenged and pushed him because you could tell he had a chance to be something special,” said Daryl, who played football for four years for the University of New Mexico and had a short stint with the Arena League’s Tampa Bay Storm. “Every week, he’d go to my high school games on Friday nights, and Saturday mornings I’d get up and go to his games, and however many touchdowns I had scored the night before, Matt would try to double them. I might’ve score only one, but you could bet that he’d score three or five.”

[Coordinator Joe Barry takes blame for Redskins defensive struggles]

In addition to the training from his big brother, Jones had size on his side. Because he dwarfed his teammates and foes, his youth football coaches always had to provide officials a copy of Jones’s birth certificate.

“I basically did whatever I wanted to do in Little League and high school,” Jones recalled. “Run over kids, run around kids, had a bunch of crazy records.”

A work in progress

Jones followed his brothers’ footsteps and earned a college scholarship (Jenrette played football at Fordham). At Florida, he platooned at the running back position as a freshman and during an injury-shortened sophomore year and as a junior. His best season came as a junior when he averaged 4.9 yards a carry and scored six rushing touchdowns and one receiving touchdown.

Jones knows he remains very much a work in progress. When McCloughan drafted him, he compared Jones to former Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch. But the 6-foot-2, 232-pound Jones still is learning how to use his size and strength to his advantage. Accustomed to outrunning opponents, Jones has had to learn and study how to run with a more physical style that will better suit him in the NFL, where defenders are just as fast — and in many cases the same size or bigger.

Washington running backs coach Randy Jordan also continues to work with Jones on being more decisive as a runner. Many times, Jones has gotten stopped for minimal games because he’d stutter-step instead of just running hard.

As Jordan has preached to Jones, second-guessing yourself proves costly in the NFL.

“Because he’s still young, it’s really important to remind him, ‘Where’s your eyes?’ ” the coach said. “But most importantly, whatever decision you make, put your foot in the ground, and you make it. We all succumb to once you make a decision, the decision is done,”

Jones admitted he still missed some opportunities against the Browns last weekend. He pointed to two carries in particular on which, after reviewing film of the game, he realized he could have turned decent runs into big gainers had he recognized openings more quickly.

Jones believes those kind of missed opportunities could soon become a thing of the past.

“Running like that, finishing, having fun doing it, it’s kind of scary what I could do, but in a great way,” he said. “I think I feel better about myself now that I know why I’m doing this, and what I’m capable of doing. I’ll be more capable of getting downfield. I’ll be a tougher load and will be a better asset for this team.”