The Green Bay Packers are approaching another decade-long gap between kickoff return touchdowns.
The Packers haven’t returned a kickoff for a score since the first week of the 2011 season.
The Packers’ last kickoff return touchdown? Randall Cobb’s 108-yard return for a score during the Packers’ season-opening win over the New Orleans Saints in 2011.
The touchdown came in Cobb’s first-ever NFL game and marked the first touchdown scored by a player born in the 1990s.
Cobb’s return, which tied the NFL record for longest kickoff return for a touchdown in league history, gave the Packers a 35-20 lead in the third quarter of a wild opening game that finished in a dramatic 42-34 win at Lambeau Field. It was Cobb’s first and only kickoff return touchdown with the Packers.
Here’s video of the return:
WHAT A DEBUT! 🤩@rcobb18’s 108-yard kickoff return is the second longest in NFL HISTORY!#FootballWeekNBCSN | @packerspic.twitter.com/Lcwk9QgLG5
— Sunday Night Football (@SNFonNBC) April 5, 2020
Cobb made one quick cut to find an alley, spun out of a tackle near the 25-yard line and then out-ran the rest of the Saints’ coverage unit for the touchdown. The play ended up winning the NFL’s “Play of the Year” award for the 2011 season.
Cobb’s score also snapped an 11-year streak for the Packers without a kickoff return touchdown. The Packers’ last score before Cobb’s return was Allen Rossum’s 92-yard touchdown during the 2000 season. Between 1998 and 2000, the Packers returned four kickoffs for touchdowns, including two from Roell Preston during the 1998 season.
Tyler Ervin is expected to be the Packers’ primary kickoff returner in 2020.
