Opportunity Knocked and Evan Williams Answered to Save Day for Packers

After a day of missed opportunities by the Green Bay Packers’ defense, Evan Williams made the game-saving interception to beat the New York Giants on Sunday.

Green Bay Packers safety Evan Williams (33) celebrates after making the game-saving interception against the Giants. | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

The Green Bay Packers defense spent most of the first 59 minutes of Sunday’s game against the New York Giants squandering opportunities.

They dropped a couple interceptions. They knocked a couple interceptions out of their own hands. They missed tackles. They couldn’t get off the field.

Finally, in the final moments with the Giants knocking on the door for the potential winning touchdown, Evan Williams came to the rescue and put the Giants to sleep.

On third-and-6 from Green Bay’s 14-yard line, Jameis Winston’s wayward pass to Jalin Hyatt was intercepted by Williams in the end zone. The game wasn’t officially over, but close enough, with the Packers escaping with a 27-20 victory.

“A lot of relief, for sure, to finally get off the field,” Williams said. “We had opps all day. Guess we’re going to be doing some ball drills when we get back. Just felt good to finally be able to close it out, put a period at the end of that sentence.”

It was Williams’ second interception of the season. The first was almost as big, coming late in the first half with Detroit in the red zone in Week 1.

“They ran that concept a little earlier in the game,” Williams said. “I want to say like first, second quarter. Just two primary receivers stacked. They ran a flat seven (route). I was in a half and Jameis, once he got the ball, he looked immediately towards my way and I’m thinking I’m hot. I’m probably the first read and I saw one break out. Legs made the play before I really did. I broke on the seven (route) before it happened and put myself in a good spot to end it.”

Green Bay Packers safety Evan Williams (33) makes the saving interception against the Giants. | Robert Deutsch-Imagn Images

Green Bay’s defense, which dominated the Eagles a week earlier, struggled against an inept Giants offense. The Packers allowed 336 yards – their second-most this season. Had the Giants hit 350, they might have won the game if they had been successful on the two-point play that interim coach Mike Kafka said was coming.

Instead, Williams made the big play that twice slipped through the hands of Carrington Valentine or was knocked out of the hands of Javon Bullard and Keisean Nixon.

What was he thinking with a chance to win the game coming his way?

“Honestly, there was not much going through my mind while the ball was in the air,” Williams said. “Instinct kind of takes over more in those moments. You just kind of trust your training. I’ve gotten that ball a million times throughout training camp. We’ve worked our half-breaks. We do it damn near every day. You’ll see us pedaling to the half and breaking out when the quarterback throws it. We’ll high point the ball and it just felt like a drill really out there to me.”

Winston was 19-of-29 passing in his first start this season. With his efficient play, the Giants were 10-of-18 on third or fourth down.

But, with the game on the line, the Packers finally took advantage of a takeaway opportunity.

“I believe timing and execution is so important when you're in crucial moments,” Winston said. “When defenses see routes, you and the receiver have to be elite in timing and execution. I believe Jalin and I, our timing and execution could have been a lot better.”

The loss was New York’s fifth in a row and spoiled the debut of Kafka. The Packers snapped a two-game losing streak.

“We definitely had opps and we did not capitalize on them,” said safety Xavier McKinney, who deflected a potential interception away from Nixon. “To be able to get that one, for ‘E’ to be able to get that one when we needed it the most, that was definitely a relief for us for sure.”

The Giants ran 42 plays to Green Bay’s 19 in the second half. Late in the third quarter, Micah Parsons and Isaiah McDuffie combined for a fourth-down sack. After the offense failed to put the game away after Williams’ interception, Parsons sacked Winston to end the game.

“It’s just like finally,” Parsons said of the interception. “But he’s a ball player. That’s what he do in practice. If he gets a chance to make a play, he’s going to make a play.”

The interception helped the Packers get a critical bounce-back win after back-to-back home losses to the Panthers and Eagles.

With a 6-3-1 record, Green Bay kept pace in the NFC playoff race. Up next are three consecutive NFC North games – at home against the Vikings, at the Lions and at home against the Bears.

“Felt really like a must-win before we even got out here,” Williams said. “I’m not going to say that’s a bad team whatsoever, but we felt like we should’ve come out here and dominated from the first snap. But that’s football.

“It’s guaranteed adversity when you’re out there. Definitely being able to walk away and have a dub definitely feels good, but we also understand a win is not going to mask all our problems. There’s a lot of steps we need to take if we want to be holding that Lombardi at the end of the year. We’ll get in the film room and make those corrections and come out better.”

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