More to come from McKinney

The signing of Xavier McKinney in the offseason may be one of the best moves of late for the Green Bay Packers. He recorded his fifth consecutive interception in the Packers Week 5 matchup against the Rams, becoming the first player since 1970 to record five consecutive interceptions in the first five weeks on a new team. After playing college ball at Alabama, he was picked by the New York Giants in the second round of the 2020 draft. On Mach 14, 2024, McKinney signed a four-year, $67 million contract with the Packers. Another interception? Yeah, it was great to see it. I got a good break off of it. Obviously he’s one of the great quarterbacks that we’ve seen play. He’s great at looking off, and it was tough all game to be able to kind of get a good feel for him, but I knew if I stayed persistent and stayed consistent in what I was seeing from him that I was gonna be able to get one, and I got a good break and I made a play on the ball. Important time for a pick? Super important. I mean it’s super important because we needed it. We got that pick and then we went down and scored. I should’ve had another one, so I’m kinda irritated about that, but like I’ve been saying, man, we’ll get back in the lab and continue to work and next week, hopefully the ones that I drop, I get next week. You ever play center field in baseball? I didn’t, but I always had pretty good instincts and pretty good ball skills. I pride myself on that, just playing safety and especially playing deep part of the field. That makes a good safety a great one, being able to play in the center field and be able to make those plays, so I’m just trying to keep continue to do that. On the defense’s stop at the end of the game? It was great. Just like I said, he’s a tough quarterback to compete against and it was hard to get one and I’m glad I was able to get one, but getting that last stop, we needed it. On rookie safety Evan Williams? Man, he played great. For him to be a young player, being in that type of game in that type of situation, being so poised and just being even-keeled throughout the whole game and still being able to make plays, it’s big for us. We need him to do things like that. He’s a young player, but we need him to make plays and he was able to do that today. Five picks in five games. If we had told you that at beginning, would you have thought we were crazy? Nah. I wouldn’t have thought you was crazy at all. I went into the season, I’m on a mission and that mission doesn’t end until we played our last game. Everything that I didn’t get before, that’s what I’m coming for. But five in five games? Not really thinking about it. I’m just trying to make plays wherever I can make plays at, so I don’t go into games thinking like, all right, lemme try to get a pick. I’m just continuing to trust in my path and the work that I put into this game, and it’s paying off. Does the fumble recovery count as a pick? Nah, nah, nah. We need a pick. We need a pick. Like I said, I should’ve had another one. Your takeaways became TDs? Super big. Those are the plays that we need. That’s complementary football, and we did that today very well. That’s part of the game. I’m glad the offense went down and was able to score on that drive. New nickel package with three safeties? We’re versatile. I think it shows no only how versatile we are but how smart of a group that we have. To be able to know several positions and be able to sub in and out throughout the game without really having any mental errors, it shows how smart of a group we have in the back end. It’s just going to keep getting better, and we know that. We’re just gonna keep working and keep continuing to improve our craft. What did you see on pick? I saw his eyes. I was able to get a really good break on it. Yeah, he looked me off a couple times throughout the game. It was difficult. It was probably the most looked-off I’ve been this year. So it was difficult, but I know if I trust it, my craft and my instincts, I was gonna able to get one. As a byproduct of the streak, do QBs know they have to be careful? Yeah, I hope so. For me, anytime that ball’s in the air, I’m thinking that’s my ball and I’m trying to come down every time. They got a pick six. You one-upped them with two takeaways in third. Feel that swing? Oh, for sure. It feels good. You always can feel the momentum when the momentum shifts. We were able to do that. Just everybody getting kind of energized. The offense gets energized. The people that watch from the sidelines, the coach, everybody gets energized, and it provides that spark that we need and we were able to do that with both of those turnovers. You wanted seven interceptions this year. You’re at five. I’m not there yet. We got a long season. I’m not gonna sit up here and celebrate my picks, because I know that it can be more than that. I dropped one today. I’m gonna get back to work and continue to just keep working on my craft and try to keep getting more of those.