This from Tyler Dunne at the Sentinel, about what the stats say:
Green Bay -- News flash,
Clay Matthews only has one sack through four games. All week, coaches and teammates have told us media folks that the third-year pro is still playing some of his best football. Sacks do define the performance of the game's premier pass rushers, but their point does have merit.
In lieu of a question in our
weekly chat about Matthews, Bryan Hall from
Pro Football Focus recently reached out to me with his website's analysis.
In their grading of 3-4 outside linebackers throughout the league, Matthews currently ranks eighth in the NFL. Several factors come into play, he said, including whether the player beat an offensive lineman (or two) to make a tackle, if it was a difficult tackle, if it forced a "negative play" for the offense, etc. Through four games this season, Matthews has played 264 snaps (153 pass-rushing, 74 against run, 37 in coverage).
Compared with all 3-4 outside linebackers in the league, he grades out well.
The Pro Football Focus ranking system currently had Matthews ranked 10th in pass rush, third against the run and 23rd in coverage. His 7 quarterback hits are first in the NFL, his 13 pressures are tied for fourth and his 11 "stops" are fourth. "Stops" are solo tackles that led to an "offensive failure."
So while generating a pass rush certainly has been a problem for the Packers there are some numbers to back up the Matthews defense.
