Green Bay's Xavier McKinney becomes first since merger to have INT in first 5 games with team

INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — Only one person would have been comfortable enough to predict Xavier McKinney would have an interception in his first five games with the Green Bay Packers.

It's no surprise that person is McKinney himself.

“Nah, I wouldn’t have thought you (were) crazy at all,” McKinney said after becoming the first NFL player since the 1970 merger to have an interception in his first five games with a team in Sunday's 24-19 victory over the Los Angeles Rams. “I went into the season, I’m on a mission ... Everything that I didn’t get before, that’s what I’m coming for.”

McKinney — signed by the Packers during the offseason after four seasons with the New York Giants — reached the milestone with 8:10 remaining in the third quarter when he picked off Matthew Stafford on an overthrown pass intended for Tutu Atwell. McKinney hauled it in at the Green Bay 18-yard line and returned it 28 yards.

McKinney was playing the deep part of the field but made a great break on the play and trusted his instincts despite being looked off most of the game by Stafford.

“It was probably the most looked off I’ve been this year. So it was difficult, but I know if I trust it, my craft and my instincts, I was gonna be able to get one,” McKinney said.

Stafford said McKinney did a nice job reading the play and that he might have put too much on the pass.

The Packers would convert the interception into a 7-yard touchdown reception by Tucker Kraft to extend their lead to 24-13. McKinney also had a fumble recovery earlier in the quarter that led to Green Bay's go-ahead touchdown.

McKinney tied Irv Comp's run of five straight in 1943 for the longest interception streak in franchise history.

“The guy just has a knack for the football and he’s got great ball skills. He’s very instinctive and smart to allow him to anticipate, to make plays, and then he generally makes the play,” coach Matt LaFleur said. “I’m sure there was one play in the second half that he’d like to have back because he might have had another one right there. Certainly, I think he’s been obviously a very key pickup for us in free agency.”

McKinney also had a pick in Week 18 last season with the Giants, which extends his total run to six games over two seasons. He is the fourth player since 1990 to have an interception streak of at least six, joining Dallas’ Trevon Diggs (2021), Minnesota’s Brian Russell (2003) and Carolina’s Doug Evans (2001).

McKinney is also the fourth player since 2000 with an interception in each of his team’s first five games of a season, joining Diggs, Russell and Cincinnati’s Lemar Parrish (1979).

The pair of streaks, though, will be the last thing on his mind when the Packers host the Arizona Cardinals next Sunday.

"Not really thinking about it. I’m just trying to make plays wherever I can make plays at. I don’t go into games thinking like, ‘Alright, let me try to get a pick.’ I’m just continuing to trust in my path and the work that I put into this game and it’s paying off," McKinney said.

McKinney leads the league with five picks. It is also tied with the most he has had in a season, which was in 2021 with the Giants. During training camp, he said his goal for the season was seven.

“I’m not there yet. We got a long season. I’m not gonna sit up here and celebrate my picks because I know that it can be more than that,” he said. "I dropped one today. I’m gonna get back to work and continue to just keep working on my craft and try to keep getting more of those.

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Green Bay Packers players celebrate an interception by safety Xavier McKinney (29) during the second half of an NFL football game against the Los Angeles Rams Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

Green Bay Packers safety Xavier McKinney (29) intercepts the ball during the second half of an NFL football game against the Los Angeles Rams Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Green Bay Packers safety Xavier McKinney (29) attempts to intercept a pass during the second half of an NFL football game against the Los Angeles Rams Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

MAGDEBURG, Germany (AP) — Germany on Saturday was still in shock and struggling to understand the suspect behind the attack in the city of Magdeburg.

Identified by local media as 50-year-old Taleb A., a psychiatry and psychotherapy specialist, authorities said he has been living in Germany for two decades. He was arrested on site after plowing a black BMW into a Christmas market crowded with holiday shoppers Friday evening, killing at least five people and wounding about 200 others.

Prominent German terrorism expert Peter Neumann posted on X that he had yet to come across a suspect in an act of mass violence with that profile.

Taleb’s X account is filled with tweets and retweets focusing on anti-Islam themes and criticism of the religion while sharing congratulatory notes to Muslims who left the faith. He also described himself as a former Muslim.

He was critical of German authorities, saying they had failed to do enough to combat the “Islamism of Europe.”

He has also voiced support for the far-right and anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

Some described Taleb as an activist who helped Saudi women flee their homeland. Recently, he seemed focused on his theory that German authorities have been targeting Saudi asylum seekers.

Neumann, the terrorism expert, wrote: “After 25 years in this ‘business’ you think nothing could surprise you anymore. But a 50-year-old Saudi ex-Muslim who lives in East Germany, loves the AfD and wants to punish Germany for its tolerance towards Islamists — that really wasn’t on my radar."

On Saturday, German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told reporters: “At this point, we can only say for sure that the perpetrator was evidently Islamophobic – we can confirm that. Everything else is a matter for further investigation and we have to wait.”

A German-based organization called Athiest Refugee Relief said the alleged attacker was not a part of the group and claimed that he made “numerous accusations and claims” against it and former board members, which it said were false.

“We distance ourselves from him in the strongest terms," the group said in a statement on its website, adding that members of Atheist Refugee Relief filed a criminal complaint against him in 2019 following “the most foul slander and verbal attacks."

An image taken from a video shows police officers arresting a suspect after car drove into a crowd at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (TNN/DPA via AP)

A person stands by flowers and candles placed outside St. John's Church near a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)