Good tips: Defense closes out Packers
Xavier McKinney was surprised when a football deflected high into the air and landed just out of the reach of a Giants’ gamesealing interception.
So he took matters into (or off of ) his own hands on the next play.
Defending a fourth-and-2 just 6 yards from their end zone, the Giants sent eight rushers at Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who appeared to signal just before the snap that he was throwing to his right. The blitzing McKinney came from that direction, got his hands up resulting in a second straight tipped pass that fell incomplete with 62 seconds remaining as the Giants finished off their biggest defensive stop in a 27-22 victory in London.
“That was the game-winner,” McKinney said. “Just super excited to get off the field and win the game.”
Despite playing with third-string cornerbacks on both sides of the field after in-game injuries to starters Fabian Moreau and Adoree’ Jackson, the defense pitched a shutout and held Rodgers to 7-for-15 passing for 76 yards during the second half. Rodgers is one of the best quarterbacks of all time at beating a blitz, but Giants defensive coordinator Wink Martindale was undeterred from his signature pressure with the game on the line.
“We trust in him and he trusts in us, and that’s the biggest thing,” McKinney said. “When you have a group of guys and a coach that believe in each other, it’s easy to go out there and play. We love playing for him. We go play hard every time.”
Rodgers tried to throw his third-down pass “through kind of the sea of arms there” but bounced it off Kayvon Thibodeaux’s helmet. The fourth-down throw was supposed to go to big-bodied Allen Lazard in one-on-one coverage.
A by-product of the long drives put together by the run-oriented Giants offense was limited opportunities for Rodgers. The Packers punted on their only two drives of the first 24 minutes of the second half, including a three-and-out.
“By the time we knew it,” Rodgers said, “we were down seven.”
With a chance to increase a 20-13 lead, Rodgers was sacked by Dexter Lawrence on a third-and-8 at the 36yard line, pushing the ball out of field-goal range. It was the most disruption that he caused in London, topping when he meant to order fish-and-chips at a local restaurant and “almost got kicked out for calling it fries.”
“It felt good sacking one of the greatest — a Hall of Famer for sure,” Lawrence said. “You can’t ever get that back, so you have to take advantage when you play guys like that. It was special.”
The Giants broke up seven of Rodgers’ 14 incompletions and added a second sack on the final play, when Rodgers was circling the pocket to buy time for receivers to get downfield for some of his trademark Hail Mary magic. Oshane Ximines clobbered Rodgers from behind, forcing a fumble, just as Rodgers readied to uncork.
Comeback from a 14-point deficit (10 at halftime) complete.
“We felt like, on defense, we kind of let them have a few,” safety Julian Love said. “We made some adjustments at half that we all felt great about: We wanted to apply a little more pressure and be stickier in coverage. And we executed.”