GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Keisean Nixon did not want Xavier McKinney to settle.
Not after McKinney had just picked off his second pass in as many games during the Green Bay Packers' Week 2 win over the Indianapolis Colts.
The conversation, which was part of Nixon being miked up for the team's website, went like this:
Nixon: "Damn, two weeks, two picks. How many are you going for, 10?"
McKinney: "Seven."
Nixon: "We're gonna say 10."
McKinney: "Fine, say 10. I like that."
Still, in the back of McKinney's mind, he must have thought Nixon was setting an unattainable goal, even after he kept the streak going with another pick in Sunday's 30-14 win over the Tennessee Titans. That's three interceptions in his first three games with the Packers since signing a four-year, $67 million contract to leave the New York Giants in free agency.
"Going to keep that goal the same right now," McKinney said after Sunday's game, when asked if he's sticking with his seven-interception goal. "But I'm trying to get as many as possible. I'm just going to keep going in with that same mindset of trying to get a turnover a game and see where that takes me."
It might take him into the Packers' record books. Only one player in Packers history, Irv Comp in 1943, has ever picked off 10 passes in a season. (Night Train Lane holds the NFL record with 14 interceptions as a rookie with the Rams in 1952). And it might help take this team, which has struggled to put together a consistent stretch of high-level defense, to another level.
The defense did just that, as the Packers started Malik Willis at quarterback with Jordan Love sidelined for a second straight game. Even if Love returns this week for Sunday's NFC North showdown against the unbeaten Minnesota Vikings (1 p.m. ET, CBS), those on the 2-1 Packers' defensive side of the ball want to keep holding up their end.
"I think we're just all playing together," said Packers cornerback Jaire Alexander, who returned an interception for a touchdown against the Titans. "We're all playing as one, and we're living up to the standard we set in camp, which is being more of a defensive-led unit right now."
McKinney's three interceptions in three games matched his 17-game total from all of last season. With seven interceptions in three games this season, the Packers also matched their 17-game total from 2023. So far, the Packers have nine takeaways, their most through three games since 2009.
"That should tell you it all, man," Packers defensive end Rashan Gary said of McKinney. "He's a big game-changer, man, and we need him every week. I love his leadership, and I love how he attacks the week, and I love how he come on game days, man -- focused, locked in, communicating, flying around. And when he makes plays like that, the whole team feeds off of it."
With Alexander's first career pick-six combined with the Packers' eight sacks -- the most by a Green Bay team in a game since 2005 -- it was the kind of defensive showing that general manager Brian Gutekunst envisioned when he signed McKinney, and the kind that coach Matt LaFleur hoped for when he hired Jeff Hafley as his defensive coordinator after last season's defensive struggles.
JA$ PICK 6!#GBvsTEN pic.twitter.com/3eDsTXxy0g
— Green Bay Packers (@packers) September 22, 2024
"They won the game for us, if you want to say that," Willis said of the defense.
"Everybody deserves a game ball. I'll pay however much money out of my pocket to everybody if they keep doing that. I'll add to their salaries. Oh my goodness. That was amazing. It was good to see. Those guys work hard all week. You just love to see it come to fruition out on the field."
Or as Packers guard Elgton Jenkins put it: "Man, them boys were on their ass like a back pocket."
Six different Packers players were in on sacks, led by Preston Smith and Devonte Wyatt with two each. Kingsley Enagbare had 1.5, including a strip-sack fumble that Lukas Van Ness recovered. Van Ness also had a sack, while linebackers Edgerrin Cooper, Isaiah McDuffie and Quay Walker each had a half sack.
"Man, that s--- make it so easy for us," McKinney said. "Like the pass rush was ridiculous. Sometimes, we're not even rushing real. We're just contain rushing. They still getting back there, so it's lovely for us."
It's put McKinney in some rare company. He became just the fifth player in the past 40 season to have an interception in each of his first three games with a franchise, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. In that span, only Cortland Finnegan (Rams, 2012), Dre' Bly (Lions, 2003), Ryan McNeil (Chargers, 2001) and Otis Smith (Jets, 1995) have done that. Smith actually had four in his first three games, while the others each had three.
Of the previous four, McNeil finished with the highest interception total in those seasons with eight. Bly and Smith finished with six each, while Finnegan never got another one that season.
"I know where I want to get and what I want to do and what I want to accomplish," McKinney said. "And I'm going to just keep working hard and keep preparing the right way every week, and I'm going to keep trying to create these opportunities for myself and for this team to go out there and be successful."