Green Bay’s Two-Minute Men

By Eric Goska

Another NFL season is on the horizon. To pass the time until kickoff, let’s take a look at some of the quickest end-zone infiltrators in Packers history.

Scoring any touchdown is a reason to celebrate. But pushing across a six-pointer earlier rather than later can do more than boost morale. It can better the odds for victory.

History bears this out. Since 1921, the Packers are a robust 433-180-8 (.704) in regular-season games in which they registered a first-quarter touchdown. In games in which they failed to do so, they are an underwhelming 386-431-31 (.473).

Keep that in mind when Packers quarterback Jordan Love and his offensive mates open the 2026 season at U.S. Bank Stadium in September.

The Packers have been coming away with first-quarter touchdowns since Bill DuMoe broke the plane on a 25-yard interception return in a 43-6 rout of the Evansville Crimson Giants in 1921. In the years since, more than 200 others have joined in the fun, with Don Hutson (22) and Davante Adams (22) getting there most often in the opening 15 minutes of play.

If Adams and Hutson represent quantity, which players speak to alacrity?

Say hello to the two-minute men. Members of this never-before-assembled band of competitors all cashed in before the strains of the national anthem faded away.

Dick Gordon opened the door in 1926 when he snagged a touchdown pass from Jack McAuliffe in a 35-0 trouncing of the Racine Tornadoes. He crossed the goal line “inside of two minutes” (Green Bay Press-Gazette) and “in the first two minutes of play” (Milwaukee Sentinel).

Aaron Jones was the last to gain entrance into this exclusive club. The running back counted on a 46-yard run against the Saints in 2017 (two minutes elapsed) and again on an 8-yard burst in Seattle (1:14) a year later.

In all, 33 Packers have reached the end zone in the opening 120 seconds of a game. Their path to paydirt has included scores from scrimmage as well those on returns of interceptions, kicks and fumbles.

The Fastest

Travis Williams caught the NFL flat-footed in 1967. The Roadrunner, as he was known at Arizona State, returned four kickoffs for touchdowns in that, his rookie year.

Travis Williams

Used sparingly during the first six games of Vince Lombardi’s final season as Packers coach, Williams flashed against the Cardinals in Week 7. The 22-year-old ignited a 14-point fourth quarter by sprinting 93 yards to the end zone in a 31-23 win at Busch Stadium.

Two weeks later, the Roadrunner returned a pair of kickoffs for touchdowns in a 55-7 rout of Cleveland. On Dec. 9, he breezed 104 yards to TD No. 4 in a 27-24 loss to the Rams.

Williams averaged 41.06 yards on 18 returns as a freshman. That NFL record – highest average return in one season – has stood for nearly 60 years.

Pity that Browns team that lost by 48 points. Williams torched them twice, going the distance on returns of 87 and 85 yards. The first touched off a 35-point first quarter. The second capped that onslaught.

Williams registered that first return – one in which Jim Copeland may have been the only Brown to lay a hand on him – with a mere 13 seconds elapsed. No Packer before or since has counted so early in a regular-season game.

“It’s a question of speed,” said Lombardi when asked about his return specialist. “He hits the holes so darn quick.”

The Longest

The Packers selected Larry Krause, a native of Greenwood, Wis., in the final round (17th) of the 1970 college draft. Chosen 432nd overall, the local boy who had played running back at St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wis., beat the odds and secured a spot on the roster.

Playing primarily on special teams, Krause did little to excite until Green Bay visited Pittsburgh in December. There, he became the only player in Packers history to travel 100 or more yards to a touchdown in the opening two minutes of a game.

With the thermometer hovering around 20 degrees, Krause corralled Allan Watson’s opening kickoff on the first bounce. Back foot squarely on the goal line, No. 30 headed upfield.

Blocks by Ken Ellis on Fred Barry and Gale Gillingham on L.C. Greenwood helped Krause skate past the 25-yard line. At the 35, the rookie made a Steeler miss.

Approaching the 50, Krause had one man to beat: the kicker. Watson, a Welsh football player whose NFL career lasted but four games, made a weak attempt at a tackle that failed. From there it became a footrace as Krause outlegged Watson, Barry, Clancy Oliver and Lee Calland to the end zone.

“I got some good blocks on it (the return),” Krause said to reporters afterward. “Mike McCoy, Forrest Gregg and Gale Gillingham all took their guys right down. I didn’t get hit on the run, really.”

The play took 19 seconds. The timekeeper, it was suggested, may have started the clock when Watson kicked off rather than waiting (correctly) until Krause touched the ball.

Krause’s 100-yard return – his only NFL touchdown – helped Green Bay beat Pittsburgh 20-12. He was released by the Packers in late September 1975 after having played 51 games for the team.

The Triple Play(er)

Only one man has scored a touchdown in the first two minutes of three different regular-season games for the Packers. That man is Steve Odom.

Odom, a receiver-return specialist from the University of Utah, was chosen by Green Bay in the fifth round of the 1974 draft. What he lacked in size (5-foot-8½ and 165 pounds) he made up in speed (4.4 seconds in the 40-yard dash and 9.4 in the 100).

In each of his six seasons in Green Bay (1974-79), Odom led the team in kickoff returns. The 179 he brought back during his career are the most by any player in team annals.

Two of Odom’s early-bird scores came returning kicks. Both shaved 16 seconds off the clock.

Odom took one back 93 yards in a 20-19 loss to the Saints in 1975. Three years later, he returned one 95-yard touchdown against the Seahawks in a 45-28 win in Milwaukee.

In between those scores, the diminutive receiver hauled in a 95-yard TD pass from Lynn Dickey against the Vikings in 1977. On that play, Odom went to the ground to secure the ball. Nate Wright, who was defending on the play, also hit the turf.

Bounding to his feet, Odom outdistanced Wright, Phil Wise and Fred McNeill in sprinting the remaining 78 yards to the end zone.

Odom’s score (1:36) was the only one Green Bay mustered that day. In falling 21-7 to the Vikings, the Packers managed but 43 offensive plays with only three originating on Minnesota’s side of the field.

Bobby Dan Dillon

The Pick-Sixers

The Packers have returned interceptions for touchdown more than 125 times over the years. Only three resulted in scores in the opening two minutes of a regular-season game.

Fittingly, Bobby Dillon, the Packers' all-time career interception leader (52), was the first to turn the trick. In the 1958 season opener, Dillon pilfered a third-down pass intended for Bears receiver Bill McColl. Aided by rookie Ray Nitschke’s block on quarterback Ed Brown, Dillon raced 37 yards (1:16) to put Green Bay up 7-0. Unfazed, Chicago roared back to win 34-20.

Herb Adderley returned seven interceptions for touchdowns (regular season) during his nine-year Packers career. Only once did he pierce the goal line in the first quarter.

We’ll let Chuck Johnson, then of the Milwaukee Journal, describe that early score which came against the Cardinals on Oct. 30, 1967.

“On the next play, (Jim) Hart, even more baby-faced than his pictures indicate, tried his first pass. It was intended for Bobby Joe Conrad, but as the ball hit him so did middle linebacker Ray Nitschke of the Packers. Conrad cartwheeled from the impact; the ball ricocheted to Adderley and Herb soon had his record (most TDs on interception returns in a career—since broken) after only 1 minute, 19 seconds had elapsed.”

Adderley’s 12-yard return was much needed as Green Bay had to overcome a six-point, fourth-quarter deficit before downing the Cardinals 31-23.

Johnnie Gray cashed in only once on an interception return during his nine years with the Packers. Unfortunately, the theft occurred in defeat as did so many of the other 21 steals he made from 1975 through 1983.

Gray recorded his lone score just 42 seconds into the 1976 season opener against the 49ers. As Jim Plunkett backpedaled under pressure from defensive end Clarence Williams, the quarterback unloaded an ill-advised pass. Gray, not the intended target Wilbur Jackson, came up with the ball and the free safety glided 15 yards untouched into the end zone.

“I thought Johnnie Gray played very well in the secondary,” said Packers head coach Bart Starr. “He made a lot of tackles. I think it was something like 10 solo tackles.”

Gray’s solid play was not enough as San Francisco prevailed 26-14.

Early Birds

Here is a list of the 33 Packers players who scored a touchdown in the first two minutes of a regular-season game.

Davante Adams, Herb Adderley (2), Johnny Blood, Tony Canadeo, Randall Cobb, Carroll Dale (2), Rob Davis, Bobby Dillon, Mike Douglass, Boyd Dowler, Gerry Ellis, Wert Engelmann, Dick Flaherty, Antonio Freeman (2), Ted Fritsch, Ryan Grant, Johnnie Gray, Ahman Green, Clarke Hinkle (2), Bill Howton, Don Hutson (2), Aaron Jones (2), Larry Krause, Dorsey Levens, James Lofton (2), MP McCoy, Steve Odom (3), Ron Pitts, Roell Preston, Tobin Rote, Barty Smith, Tracy White, Travis Williams