Our annual countdown starts at the beginning of the Packers’ 2024 season — a very good place to start.
Although the Green Bay Packers’ 2024 season ended sooner than Packers fans had hoped, there were still plenty of memorable moments and plays. This summer, Acme Packing Company is running down our list of the top 10 plays from last season, an exercise we have conducted annually during the summer over the last several years.
Last year, we concluded the voting on the top plays of the 2023 season with a game-changing interception by Keisean Nixon, who outsmarted Patrick Mahomes to give the Packers an upset victory over the Kansas City Chiefs. There’s no way to know for sure if us ranking Nixon’s play as #1 on our countdown led to his breakout season as a boundary cornerback in 2024, but you can’t prove that it didn’t!
This year, we’re back with 18 more games to parse through. Today we begin the countdown at #10 and we start with the team’s first big play of the entire 2024 season — one that served as a sign that a new arrival was going to make his impact felt throughout the year in a big way.
The Context
During the 2024 offseason, the Green Bay Packers made a pair of splash free agent signings. One was running back Josh Jacobs, who came in to replace Aaron Jones. The other was safety Xavier McKinney, who arrived from the New York Giants ready to play for a contending team.
McKinney looked the part of a veteran leader and a playmaking safety throughout spring practices and training camp, but all bets are off once the pads come on. But with the Packers looking to get their new-look defense under Jeff Hafley off to a good start, they were expecting McKinney to provide both steady play at safety along with some splash plays.
The Game
The Packers traveled to Brazil in week one for a date against the Philadelphia Eagles, one of the NFC’s other top contending teams. Philly collapsed down the stretch during the 2023 season, blowing a commanding division lead with a few weeks to go and unceremoniously bowing out in the Wild Card playoffs to a 9-8 Tampa Bay Buccaneers team.
Both teams came into week one desperate for a big win over a fellow conference contender to start the season off well, while McKinney in particular was surely excited to get to make his Packers debut against one of his old team’s biggest rivals.
The Situation
After winning the opening coin toss and electing to receive, the Packers moved the ball across midfield and faced an early 4th-and-6 from the Eagles’ 38-yard line. A false start on right tackle Zach Tom pushed them back to 4th-and-11, leading Matt LaFleur to punt from plus-territory. Daniel Whelan put the ball out of bounds at the 10-yard line, giving Green Bay’s defense good field position on its first drive of the regular season.
After Eric Wilson stopped Saquon Barkley for a loss of five yards on first down, the defense forced an incompletion on a deep pass to A.J. Brown to bring up 3rd-and-15. It would take only three snaps for McKinney to make his presence known, and to do it emphatically.
The Play
With the line of scrimmage at their own 5, the Eagles sent quarterback Jalen Hurts back into the shotgun. He received the snap at his own goal line, dropping back to pass as the Eagles expected pressure on Hafley’s first 3rd-and-long call as an NFL defensive coordinator. Philadelphia kept Barkley and tight end Dallas Goedert both in the backfield on either side of Hurts to block, but the Packers only brought a four-man rush, instead dropping back in a two-deep zone.
Philadelphia ran essentially a three-man route, with A.J. Brown and Jahan Dotson going up the sidelines and DeVonta Smith running a seam up the right hashes from the slot. Packers linebacker Quay Walker carried Smith up the middle, staying right in his hip pocket, while McKinney and rookie Javon Bullard were both deep, watching Hurts’ eyes.
Inexplicably, Hurts lofts the football over the middle, intended for Smith who was already well-covered on the play by Walker. McKinney reads Hurts the entire way, however, breaking instantly on the football and undercutting the route to intercept the pass at the Eagles’ 35-yard line. McKinney returned the pick to the 19-yard line, setting the Packers’ offense up in exceptional field position for their second series.
The Impact
Unfortunately, after an early penalty on the Eagles on first down, the Packers’ offense took a holding penalty and their drive stalled out, forcing them to kick a field goal to take a 3-0 lead instead of converting McKinney’s pick into a touchdown. Green Bay would get another turnover on the next series, with Jalen Hurts fumbling a snap, but another penalty forced the Packers to settle for a field goal once again. Those missed opportunities may have been the difference, as Philadelphia went on to win the game 34-29.
However, the emotional impact of this play and the fact that it was a sign of things to come for the new leader of the Packers’ secondary — and the fact that it came on the first defensive series of the regular season — are what landed this play on our top-10 list. McKinney went on a remarkable run to start the season, recording an interception in each of the Packers’ first five games to set a new franchise record for a player making his team debut. Those performances put him squarely on All-Pro radar, and he finished the season with 8 picks and well-deserved first-team All-Pro honors.
Stay tuned for play number 9 on Tuesday!