Our countdown of the 10 best plays of the Green Bay Packers’ 2025 season continues with a pivotal play in the Packers’ eventual comeback victory in Pittsburgh. To watch the play, please click here.
The Game
The Packers entered the game in good shape with a 4-1-1 record and as healthy as they would be all year. They would be facing old friend Aaron Rodgers, leading the 4-2 Pittsburgh Steelers, along with their signature solid defense, and shiny new toy DK Metcalf.
After their early loss to the Browns, the offense
had been humming, putting 40 on the Cowboys and 27 each on the Bengals and Cardinals, but those defenses were among the worst in the league. The Steelers would go on to win their division, and here they presented a difficult challenge as their most balanced opponent to date. This was also Christian Watson’s first game of the season, and ended up being the only game in 2025 that the Packers had both Watson and Tucker Kraft available for a full 60 minutes.
The Situation
While the final score may look a bit lopsided, the Steelers took control early, drawing first blood with a ridiculous 56-yard field goal from Chris Boswell. The Packers would respond immediately with a long drive culminating in a brilliant 16-yard touchdown to Tucker Kraft, his first of the day, but the next few Packer drives would stall out due to a combination of ineffective Josh Jacobs runs (13 carries for just 33 yards on the day), especially on second-and-long.
After Brandon McManus missed a 57-yard field goal to start the second quarter, the Steelers would leverage that field position into a successful 50-yarder from Boswell. After a three-and-out, they would add another 48-yarder from Boswell, and after yet another three-and-out, Rodgers and the Steelers finally hit paydirt, as the old-timer connected with DK Metcalf on a two-yard touchdown to give the Steelers a two-score lead. To make matters worse, Pittsburgh was due to receive the ball to start the second half, and after Brandon McManus missed yet another field goal, this time a 44-yarder as the first half expired, the game was in danger of getting away from Green Bay
Fortunately, the Packer defense held strong, forcing a three-and-out to open the second half, but a huge punt from Corliss Waitman and a penalty on Javon Bullard pushed the first Packer drive back to the ten-yard line. On first down, Josh Jacobs was once again stuffed for no gain, and after a short throw to Luke Musgrave, the Packers were facing third-and-five at their own fifteen, trailing by nine points. It was not looking great!
The Play
Tucker Kraft is great though, and it’s a good thing because he’s the main reason this play worked at all. On first watch I thought it was a complete disaster, and just a great individual effort from Kraft, but that’s not the entire story. While Pittsburgh’s pressure was effective and Love’s throw was impacted, Kraft was the correct read for a hot route, and as we learned many times in the first half of 2025, when Tucker Kraft is in single coverage, Tucker Kraft is open.
The Packers lined up with Jordan Love in shotgun flanked to his left by Josh Jacobs. It’s a tight formation with Romeo Doubs slot left, and a bunch formation of Savion Williams, Matthew Golden, and our hero slot right, with Williams at the head of the triangle up on the line, Golden outside, and Kraft inside.
The Steelers are showing blitz, and they bring it at the snap, with six men overwhelming Love’s protection. Zach Tom barely manages to fend off TJ Watt, while linebacker Patrick Queen bursts through the middle, depositing Elgton Jenkins on his rear end and blowing by an ineffective Jacobs, hitting Love as he throws.
Because the Steelers are blitzing, they’re left with five men in coverage to deal with four Packers. Doubs runs a 15-yard in route that I suspect was intended as a double move deep shot if the Steelers had backed out of their blitz. He’s covered by Joey Porter, Jr. As it stands, the route looks incredibly awkward as Savion Williams runs a crosser from the opposite side and essentially meets Doubs as he breaks in. Generally speaking you don’t want receivers converging as it allows the defense to cover more people with fewer resources.
Here, either by design or by luck, it works brilliantly. On the snap, Matthew Golden runs a slant to the middle of the field, parking himself in front of the line to gain and occupying Darius Slay. Williams runs hard at Jalen Ramsey, who follows him across the field towards Doubs. Doubs has also drawn the attention of deep safety Juan Thornhill. This leaves Kraft singled up on safety DeShon Elliott.
Kraft gets his head around and realizes the ball is underthrown, but fights through Elliott, “subtly” forcing him to the outside and breaking back inside to make the catch at the 30. Elliott is not in Kraft’s class as an athlete and Kraft creates instant separation as Elliott wastes precious seconds asking for a flag.
From here, Kraft is off to the races. Thornhill dashes all the way across the field just to incur a vicious Kraft stiff arm at the 50. Thornhill manages to grab his hand briefly, but Kraft just spins him down to the ground. He does slow him down enough to pop back up and, while Kraft is busy delivering another stiff arm to Elliott, Thornhill manages to bring him down.
Kraft would gain fifty-nine yards on the play, almost all of it after the catch. One of the reasons Kraft was on so many radars as a breakout star before suffering an ACL tear last season was due to his incredible mix of speed and physicality. On this play, it was all on display from winning the ball out of the air, to accelerating away from the coverage, and then, finally, mercilessly beating up the coverage.
The Impact
Most importantly, the Packers would not waste this drive, though they came close. After a Josh Jacobs run on third-and-two came up short yet again, Love went back to Kraft on fourth-and-one for the conversion before Savion Williams eventually punched it in on an eight-yard pass, cutting the Packers’ deficit to 16-14.
Green Bay poured it on in the fourth quarter, scoring twenty-one points and winning the game by ten, but if that play and that drive fail to materialize, there’s a good chance the Steelers keep control of the game and manage to hang on. For a Packers team that made the playoffs by the skin of their teeth, every big play over the course of the season was crucial. Kraft finished the day with seven catches on nine targets, 143 yards, and two touchdowns, and put the league on notice.
