GREEN BAY, Wis. -- There was no fooling Micah Hyde. The Green Bay Packers defensive back knew exactly when the last time -- the only time -- was that Russell Wilson threw four interceptions.
"It was the NFC Championship game, wasn't it?" Hyde said confidently.
Indeed, it was. The Packers picked Wilson off four times in the 2014 conference title game, only to lose. As such, perhaps it was fitting that Hyde snagged the fifth of Wilson's five interceptions Sunday in the Packers' 38-10 win over the Seattle Seahawks at Lambeau Field.
It was the first time in nearly 10 years that the Packers picked off five passes in a game. The last time was against the Chicago Bears in the 2006 season finale. They added a sixth takeaway, on a fourth-quarter fumble jarred loose by Christian Ringo, to give them a half-dozen in a game for the first time since Week 16 of the 2010 season against the New York Giants.
For a team that had taken the ball away only 12 times in the first 12 games of the season -- and had come up with only two in the past four games -- Sunday's turnover parade was a welcome sight.
"You watch film week in and week out, you see defenses get those tipped balls that we got -- right off somebody's shoulder and right to them," said Hyde, whose fourth-quarter interception bounced off Seahawks running back Troymaine Pope. "I got mine right off the dude's helmet. You see it week in and week out. We just weren't getting them."
Hyde's wasn't the only deflected interception. Damarious Randall got one of his two interceptions off a pass that Doug Baldwin couldn't handle, and Quinten Rollins came up with an interception in the end zone on a ball that cornerback LaDarius Gunter appeared to deflect. Morgan Burnett got it all started when he read a crossing route in the second quarter.
"This is my first time since I've been here, oh shoot, probably the first time in my football career I've been part of something like that," Burnett said of the six takeaways. "But it was a lot of fun. Just the crowd was into it. We were feeding off the crowd's energy. It was great to be a part of."
It started with the Packers' defensive front. Wilson was pressured 23 times, second-most of his career, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
Packers coach Mike McCarthy has been harping on takeaways for weeks. He recently said "the biggest hole in our football team is our turnover ratio," and his team's turnover differential was an unsightly minus-5 coming into the game. That was tied for 24th in the NFL.
The Packers walked out of Lambeau Field on Sunday at plus-1 on the season.
"We needed a game like that," McCarthy said. "That's the way we play. That's the way we train. I can't say enough about, starting with our defense, keeping the quarterback contained, keeping him the pocket, and then when there were extended plays, to take advantage of the opportunities and making plays on the ball. I thought our defense was outstanding."