On Monday, Acme Packing Company will begin our countdown of the Top Plays of the Green Bay Packers’ 2025 season. The list will officially start with play #10 as voted on by our contributors, but before we get to the top ten, it’s time to look at a few plays that just barely missed the cut.
Three of these four plays come from games that will show up again in the Top 10 at some point, which may explain why these didn’t quite make the cut for our countdown.
Micah Parsons sacks his old teammate to prevent an overtime touchdown
Rest assured that more from this game will be
coming, but this was one of the bigger plays in this ridiculous Sunday Night Football game. After an absurd back-and-forth game in regulation, the Packers went on defense first in overtime against the Dallas Cowboys, who had traded Micah Parsons to Green Bay a little more than a month earlier. Dak Prescott drove Dallas down the field with two big pass plays, setting up a goal-to-go situation.
Green Bay got a stop against the run on first down, setting up second-and-goal from the 4. Prescott dropped back to pass but scrambled to the left and took off, with a potential opportunity to get into the end zone and put the Cowboys in command of the result. However, Parsons used his absurd athletic ability and motor to loop around from the right side of the offensive line and track down the quarterback for a sack, forcing a third down. The Packers forced an incomplete pass, leading to a Cowboys field goal and an eventual 40-40 tie. However, if not for Parsons’ effort, that might have been a Dallas touchdown that could have cost the Packers a half-game in the standings — a half-game that ended up being critically important to making the playoffs at the end of the season.
Parsons sacks Brissett to lock down comeback win
Parsons’ clutch performances continued just three weeks later. After trailing the shorthanded Cardinals for much of the game, the Packers took the lead late in the fourth quarter as Matt LaFleur kept his offense on the field to convert a fourth down rather than take a tying field goal. They went up 27-23 with just under two minutes left, leaving Arizona needing a touchdown.
But after advancing into Packers territory thanks to a couple of chunk plays, the Cardinals ran into a motivated Parsons, who had taken a snap or two off just before returning to the field before the next play. He delivered a sack that all but locked up the win, dipping neatly under right tackle Jonah Williams to sack quarterback Jacoby Brissett for a 9-yard loss. That play forced the Cardinals to take one of their final two timeouts with fewer than 30 seconds left, and the Packers held on after a couple of incomplete heaves towards the end zone.
For Parsons, it was his third sack of Brissett in the game, giving him a new career-high for a single game. That play and his performance in the game also earned him NFC Defensive Player of the Week.
Josh Jacobs has breakaway speed?!
The Packers’ week 15 game in Denver is one to forget. Green Bay let a game that they led by 9 points against an 11-2 Broncos team slip away; a dropped interception by Xavier McKinney let a Broncos drive continue on, and later on the series Micah Parsons tore his ACL. The team fell apart thereafter, losing 34-26.
However, one play that put the Packers in position to potentially prevail was perhaps the most explosive performance that Josh Jacobs has put up with the Packers.
With the Packers driving early in the third quarter and holding a 16-14 lead, Jacobs found a crease and hit the gas, weaving through and then outrunning Broncos defenders on his way to the end zone for a 40-yard touchdown. It wasn’t just Jacobs’ longest touchdown run as a Packer — it was his longest carry of any kind in his two years with the team and for a moment, it gave Green Bay a 9-point lead on the AFC’s top seed.
A wild Bo Melton appears!
During the 2025 season, Bo Melton was officially listed on the Packers’ roster as a cornerback, having switched positions from wide receiver during the offseason. However, Melton remained a special teams gunner and occasionally got a few snaps at wideout, and he never took a snap on defense all season long. Melton played a surprising 26 snaps at receiver in a midseason game against the Eagles, but coming into the Packers’ matchup against the Bears at Lambeau Field in week 14, he had logged just 47 snaps with two catches and 28 yards.
However, Melton stepped up with a huge catch in one of the Packers’ biggest games — and one of the biggest moments in that game. Green Bay led 7-3 late in the second quarter, having just given up a field goal with 1:14 left in the half. Cairo Santos put his kickoff out of bounds, however, giving Green Bay great field position with just over a minute left. After a short run by Josh Jacobs and a 12-yard gain for Luke Musgrave, the Packers were set up at the Bears’ 45 with 45 seconds left when Melton delivered a thunderbolt.
Melton lined up along the left numbers, part of a three-receiver set to the left side, then ran a go route from the snap. Out of a deep drop and with plenty of time to throw, Love hit Melton with a deep ball as the speedy receiver cleared the underneath coverage. Safety Jaquan Brisker took a terrible angle to the floating football and could only watch as Melton hauled in the catch at the goal line, falling backward into the end zone for a touchdown. It was Melton’s only touchdown of the season and the second of his career, but it couldn’t have come at a better time.
The Packers would eventually win this game 28-21 in thrilling fashion and, as one would expect, we’ll see more from this game later on in our countdown.
