Packer Central

Fittingly, Xavier McKinney, Jared Goff Are NFC Players of the Month

The Green Bay Packers’ big-play safety and the Detroit Lions’ incredibly efficient quarterback won NFL awards on Thursday and will be in the spotlight for Sunday’s showdown.

Bill Huber

Green Bay Packers safety Xavier McKinney (29) intercepted his league-leading sixth pass last week at Jacksonville.
Green Bay Packers safety Xavier McKinney (29) intercepted his league-leading sixth pass last week at Jacksonville. / Morgan Tencza-Imagn Images
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GREEN BAY, Wis. – As if Sunday’s Green Bay Packers-Detroit Lions showdown needed any additional storylines, the NFL delivered one on Thursday.

Packers safety Xavier McKinney was named the NFC’s Defensive Player of the Month for October.

Lions quarterback Jared Goff was named the NFC’s Offensive Player of the Month.

“There was another month that I should have won it, too,” McKinney said after Thursday’s practice. “I don’t really make those decisions, but at the end of the day it’s a great honor and I’m happy about it. But there’s more to do and there’s more that I want to accomplish and I’m just going to get back to work.”

McKinney wasn’t honored in September, when he had an interception in all four games, but was given the award for October, when he had two interceptions, three passes defensed, one fumble recovery, one sack and 19 tackles.

He was the only player with multiple interceptions, one sack and one fumble recovery in Weeks 5-8. 

Having contributed in coverage and as a blitzer, what does he like best?

“My answer will always be there’s not one thing that I like” best, he said last week. “I like to do them all. For me, it always depends on the week.

“For instance, let’s say if there’s a really good tight end matchup, I want that matchup. If I feel like I can make a lot of my plays in the post, then I want to play in the post. It really just depends on the week, so I can’t really say that it’s one specific thing that I like doing the most.”

With his sixth interception of the season on Sunday at Jacksonville, he became the fifth player since 2000 with an interception in six of his team’s first eight games, joining Corey Chavous (2003 with the Vikings), Trevon Diggs (2021 with the Cowboys), Doug Evans (2001 with the Panthers) and Brian Russell (2003 with the Vikings).

Signed away from the Giants in free agency, just how important has McKinney been for the Packers? The team had seven interceptions all of last season. He leads the NFL with six interceptions and seven takeaways.

“When you have a guy like McKinney, who’s instinctive, really good ball skills, can see it, feel it, he’s got six picks right now,” Lions coach Dan Campbell told reporters on Wednesday. “So, you get in the quarterback’s face and cause him to make a throw he shouldn’t and it’s just a little bit off, that guy’s going to make you pay.”  

This is McKinney’s first Player of the Month award. He is the third Packers defensive back to earn Defensive Player of the Month, joining the legendary Charles Woodson (three times in 2009) and safety Atari Bigby (December 2007).

Goff, who is second in the NFL in passer rating and hasn’t thrown an interception since Week 3, knows he must be careful against Green Bay’s defense, which has an NFL-leading 19 takeaways.

“Yeah, they’re good at it,” Goff told reporters in Allen Park on Wednesday. “They’re very ball-aware, they’re coached well, they know where the ball is at, they’re going after it and they’re trying to make plays, and it’s our job not to let them do that.

“We’ve done a pretty good job of that up to this point, but this will be a big challenge for us and we’re going to do our job.”

Goff is the hottest quarterback in the NFL. In October, he led the NFL in passer rating (149.8) and completion percentage (80.0).

He will enter Sunday’s game at Lambeau Field with four consecutive games with a passer rating of at least 125, a feat accomplished by only two other players (Russell Wilson, five times in 2015, and Ryan Tannehill, four times in 2019).

“He playing good, man,” McKinney said. “He’s putting the ball where it needs to be. They’re running it efficiently, they’re running it smoothly, and he’s done a great job of eliminating turnovers and eliminating mistakes, really.

“Y’all know the stats and y’all have seen the stats, I think they’ve done a great job as a unit offensively of making sure they score, but also being efficient and not giving up the ball.”

The NFC’s Special Teams of the Month was Arizona Cardinals kicker Chad Ryland. The Packers worked out Ryland two weeks before signing Brandon McManus.

With game-winning field goals in Weeks 5 (vs. the 49ers), 7 (vs. the Chargers) and 8 (vs. the Dolphins), Ryland became the first kicker since the Raiders’ Daniel Carlson in 2021 to record three game-winning field goals in the final two minutes of regulation or in overtime in a four-game span.

McKinney is not the only player to win an award this week. So did linebacker Edgerrin Cooper.

More Green Bay Packers News 

Malik Willis, Jared Goff are NFL’s best QBs | Packers-Lions Thursday injury reports | Packers-Lions game preview | Edgerrin Cooper’s fast feet and violent finish | “Realistic” that Jordan Love will play | Packers-Lions Wednesday injury reports | Jordan Love does not practice | What channel and what to know about GB-DET | On SI NFL Power Rankings | Packers-Lions matchups | Packers sign former first-round pick | Our Consensus NFL Power Rankings | You play to win the game | Defense must rebound vs. prolific Lions | Five Packers Overreactions

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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.