Packers’ Best Plays of 2023, #3: Darnell Savage’s pick-six all but clinches playoff win

A massive turnover helped send the Packers to the Divisional Playoffs as the first #7 seed to win a playoff game.

Our breakdown of the ten best plays of the Green Bay Packers’ 2023 season continues on as we get to the top three. The Packers have 19 games’ worth of plays to choose from, and this is the first (but maybe not the last) one to come from a playoff game.

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The Game

The Green Bay Packers went on an impressive late-season run, winning six of their last eight games to finish the season at 9-8. That earned the team a playoff spot to wrap up Jordan Love’s debut season as starting quarterback, with the 7th seed giving them a date at AT&T Stadium against the Dallas Cowboys and former Packers head coach Mike McCarthy.

McCarthy and the Cowboys lost a 31-28 overtime thriller at Lambeau Field during the 2022 season in his first game coaching against Aaron Rodgers, one that saw Christian Watson deliver on his immense potential for the first time. But this time, Rodgers was gone, leaving Love with a chance to start making his own history at Jerry World.

However, the Packers came in as seven-point underdogs and facing a major challenge. Dallas rode the NFL’s top-scoring offense and a top-five defense to an NFC East title and the NFC’s #2 seed. Additionally, coming into this game, #2 seeds were undefeated against #7 seeds since the NFL expanded the playoff field in 2020.

The Situation

History be damned. The Packers came out of the gate firing, winning the coin toss and electing to receive the opening kickoff, a move that had worked for them going back to the start of their hot streak on Thanksgiving against the Detroit Lions. They immediately ripped off a long 12-play drive that ate up nearly 8 minutes of clock, taking a 7-0 lead on a short Aaron Jones touchdown. After the two teams traded punts, a Jaire Alexander interception gave Green Bay a short field and another Jones score put them up by two touchdowns just after the start of the second quarter.

Another Cowboys punt led to yet another Packers touchdown drive. That one was marked by two big plays — first a 39-yard bomb from Love to Romeo Doubs and then a magnificent 20-yard touchdown strike to Dontayvion Wicks. Although Anders Carlson missed the ensuing PAT, the Packers held a 20-0 lead with about three minutes left in the first half.

The Cowboys still had a great opportunity to make the game competitive, however, if they could put up scores on either side of halftime, and they drove into Packers territory in just a few plays. Set up at the Packers’ 40-yard line after the two-minute warning and holding two timeouts in their pocket, McCarthy’s Cowboys looked poised to do just that when disaster struck.

The Play

Darnell Savage was hardly a fan favorite in Green Bay in 2023. The 5th-year starter had that job almost by default, as the Packers chose to bring in players on veteran minimum contracts or late-round draft picks to compete for safety jobs. Savage was back on a fifth-year option, but he played in just ten regular season games. To make matters worse, he had allowed a passer rating over 100 for the third straight year, while missing tackles at a typically high rate. Savage also allowed a career-high in completion rate, according to Pro Football Reference, and failed to intercept a pass for the first season in his career.

Naturally, he delivered one of the statement plays of the Packers season and gave the team a dominating lead that they would never relinquish.

The Cowboys lined up for the second-down play with tight end Jake Ferguson wide left, CeeDee Lamb and Brandin Cooks in the left slot, Michael Gallup split wide right, and running back Tony Pollard to quarterback Dak Prescott’s left. The Packers lined up in their typical 2-4-5 nickel, with Jaire Alexander on Ferguson, Keisean Nixon on Lamb, linebacker De’Vondre Campbell covering up Cooks, and Carrington Valentine on the far side against Gallup. Savage was over the left side opposite Jonathan Owens in a two-deep alignment.

At the snap, Green Bay brought a blitz, with Campbell rushing the passer. Savage rotated down to help on the inside receivers while Owens dropped deep into a single-high shell. Linebacker Quay Walker, aligned over the right side of the offense, dropped back into a zone over the middle.

Savage initially crashes down on Cooks, but he reads Prescott’s eyes and sees him tracking Lamb from the snap. As Prescott unloads the football, Savage adjusts his feet to jump Lamb’s route, hauling in the football at the 35-yard line. With nothing but turf in front of him, Savage quickly accelerated into top gear, letting his 4.36 speed open up. 75 yards later, Savage had his second career pick-six and had given the Packers a four-possession lead on the Cowboys before halftime.

The Impact

While the Packers were already dominating the game before this play, Savage’s massive touchdown ensured that Green Bay would hold no less than a three-possession lead at halftime, as they did manage to get on the board with a touchdown to Ferguson as the first-half clock expired. But this play immediately brought to mind memories of another playoff pick-six that helped a Packers playoff victory: Tramon Williams’ 70-yarder in Atlanta back in 2010.

Williams’ score only put the Packers up by 14 at the half, but Green Bay got the ball to start the second half in that game and immediately scored to extend their lead to 21. Savage’s touchdown, combined with the Cowboys’ inability to stop Jordan Love and company, made this game feel well and truly out of reach even before 30 minutes had elapsed.

Indeed, the Packers kept matching Dallas through the third quarter, even as the Cowboys put up a field goal and a touchdown to start the quarter. Matt LaFleur’s team found the end zone on each of their first three drives of the second half, with Jones completing a hat trick, Love finding a wide-open Luke Musgrave for a 38-yard score, and then hitting Doubs for a three-yarder to put the Packers up 48-16. Despite LaFleur’s ill-advised mass substitution on offense early in the fourth quarter, the deficit was far too much, and the Packers finished off a 48-32 victory to advance to a Divisional Playoff battle in San Francisco.

Savage’s glory would be short-lived. He would drop another potential pick-six in San Francisco, a play that could have given Green Bay an early 10-0 lead and might have changed the entire complexion of the game early on. Instead, the 49ers ended up advancing to the NFC Championship with a 24-21 win. Savage signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars as a free agent in the offseason.

But in this moment, Savage was a hero — the player who sent Packers fans into a frenzy and helped clinch a playoff victory in what was widely expected to be a down year.

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Stay tuned for play #2 coming up on Tuesday!