Whats Wrong With Clay Matthews?

[Kitten]

Regardless of how well Clay is playing, I still DREAD any game without him. See last years game vs the dolphins and the third quarter against the Redskins, we simply got no pressure without him. Chad effing Henne made plays against our defense, Chad Henne. I can't repeat that enough, Chade Henne.

I considered that too but if you look at it the Packers that lost to the Redskins and Dolphins last year, they are a completely different than they were at the end of the year and are even more different now. Drastically different.

 

[FrankRizzo]

Right, without Matthews our pass rush will suffer just as much, probably more, than last year.
Cullen Jenkins has 4 sacks right now in 3 games with the Eagles.
That was a great combo.

 

[FrankRizzo]

From Bob McGinn's Chat, speaking on the comment from last year after the loss at the Redskins in which Mike Shanahan said that the Packers had the best pass rush in the NFL:

Neal played very well that day in Washington. I remember it vividly. So did Jenkins and Raji. It was a wall of heat on McNabb. Then Neal went away and has never come back, and Jenkins went to Philly. Still too early for me to say where the pass rush is headed or if Neal will return any time soon. On Monday, the Packers worked out former Colt backup DE Keyunta Dawson, presumably to see if he could play OLB in base and maybe help the rush in nickel. Zombo will be back before long. He is a pretty solid rusher. That will help. The cross blitzes inside have not been real good so far. Nick Barnett was a much better rusher than A.J. Hawk and a slightly better one than Desmond Bishop.

 

[FrankRizzo]

Also this from McGinn in that chat:
Matthews played one of his finest games Sunday with four hurries, 3.5 knockdowns and 2.5 tackles for loss. He dropped far less than in most games. He often was used in almost a sacrificial role on some pressures in which the idea is to get an ILB or slot home in a fire zone.

 

[ivo610]

I assume you saw the JS online chat the other day where they acknowledged clay not winning his one on ones against what most would consider back up Tackles right? It was either Dunne or McGinn off the top of my head.

 

[Bensalama21]

That's not close to true.

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/rapid-reports/post/15655415

Excellent is VERY different from perfect.

McCarthy also said he was playing better than he did the first 3 games last year. So it is partially close.

 

[PackersRS]

McCarthy also said he was playing better than he did the first 3 games last year. So it is partially close.

Really isn't.

He's playing MUCH better against the run. In that aspect, McCarthy is absolutely right. They grade players each and every play. In that regard, I don't doubt McCarthy's words that he's playing better than last year.

Again, it comes down to him winning one-on-ones regularly in the passing game. That single aspect I deem the most important for a pass rusher. And there's yet to be a person to disagree with my statement that he's not winning.

You need to win those to have a perfect game. Perfect is not subjective. Very good is.

 

[FrankRizzo]

I assume you saw the JS online chat the other day where they acknowledged clay not winning his one on ones against what most would consider back up Tackles right? It was either Dunne or McGinn off the top of my head.

It was young Tyler, right.
But as I researched, the offensive tackle should win those battles, and even Marshall Newhouse was sensational in camp.
But often times the OT will have help from an OG, RB, TE.

Anyway, if the coaches and McGinn and Christl aren't concerned about Clay, I'm not either.

I'm much more worried about the loss of Cullen and Mike Neal being made of..... whatever Harrell is made out of. That's got to change.

Clay is not a flash-in-the-pan like Merriman was.

 

[Bensalama21]

Really isn't.

He's playing MUCH better against the run. In that aspect, McCarthy is absolutely right. They grade players each and every play. In that regard, I don't doubt McCarthy's words that he's playing better than last year.

Again, it comes down to him winning one-on-ones regularly in the passing game. That single aspect I deem the most important for a pass rusher. And there's yet to be a person to disagree with my statement that he's not winning.

You need to win those to have a perfect game. Perfect is not subjective. Very good is.

Yes, sorry. I should have used better wording.

 

[Murgen]

I also saw Clay triple teamed one time. I think he's injured. Hammy!?

 

[DevilDon]

That's not close to true.

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/rapid-reports/post/15655415

Excellent is VERY different from perfect.

If you ever find where a coach calls a player "perfect" will you please post it? I've never heard the term used to describe the play of any individual in the history of the game. I think what the poster meant was that it was excellent across the board which is as close to perfect as one can reasonably expect from coaches regarding players.

 

[PackersRS]

If you ever find where a coach calls a player "perfect" will you please post it? I've never heard the term used to describe the play of any individual in the history of the game. I think what the poster meant was that it was excellent across the board which is as close to perfect as one can reasonably expect from coaches regarding players.

The poster already said that he misused the term.

And, IIRC, Rodgers said he and Clements said that his game against ATL and the Giants was as close to perfect as there is.

The whole point is the one-on-ones. Nobody has discredited that he won those in a dominant fashion. And that's what worries me, because last year, by this time, he was blowing the opponents on one-on-one. And it's not because he's facing better tackles, because he's not.

I'm not worried, though. I do think his quad injury is quite serious, but by the end of the year it'll have healed, and he'll start winning those regularly, to go along with his dominant run support.

Then he'll be back to being the best pass rusher in the league.

 

[YouFrgotPoland]

The poster already said that he misused the term.

And, IIRC, Rodgers said he and Clements said that his game against ATL and the Giants was as close to perfect as there is.

The whole point is the one-on-ones. Nobody has discredited that he won those in a dominant fashion. And that's what worries me, because last year, by this time, he was blowing the opponents on one-on-one. And it's not because he's facing better tackles, because he's not.

I'm not worried, though. I do think his quad injury is quite serious, but by the end of the year it'll have healed, and he'll start winning those regularly, to go along with his dominant run support.

Then he'll be back to being the best pass rusher in the league.

These are my thoughts as well. I wonder how long it takes to heal if he has to keep playing on it every week. Wouldn't that just re-aggravate it every time?

 

[Cheesehead Brittany]

Can I like um have his babies???????????????

 

[PackersFanfromCali80]

http://www.packers.com/media-center...xt-level/f624fae1-3b9b-4c24-bcb3-07db45da4edb

 

[PackersRS]

Well, this game against the Broncos, Matthews was back to his dominant self.

They really gameplanned for him, playing mostly out of max protect playaction bootlegs.

Matthews had only 5 or 6 opportunities to just rush the passer.

But, unlike last weeks, Matthews was VERY disruptive. Too bad that the secondary kept having breakdowns and nobody else stepped up.

But I'm not worried anymore. Matthews is back. Even with only 1 sack to the season. And he's still injuried.

 

[Wood Chipper]

Trade him now!

 

[YouFrgotPoland]

Well, this game against the Broncos, Matthews was back to his dominant self.

They really gameplanned for him, playing mostly out of max protect playaction bootlegs.

Matthews had only 5 or 6 opportunities to just rush the passer.

But, unlike last weeks, Matthews was VERY disruptive. Too bad that the secondary kept having breakdowns and nobody else stepped up.

But I'm not worried anymore. Matthews is back. Even with only 1 sack to the season. And he's still injuried.

Really? This is good news, I didn't get a good look at too many of his one on one's. Our secondary was letting everything through....

 

[PackersRS]

Really? This is good news, I didn't get a good look at too many of his one on one's. Our secondary was letting everything through....

Yeah, focused on him but that's first impression. To get a really good picture would have to re-watch it.

But I remember 5 or 6 plays where Matthews just blew off the line. Just like last year.

If the burst and power is still there like it looked, then no worries whatsoever. He's actually a better player now, much better contain and play recognition than last year.

But if nobody else steps up, and not just Raji, the sacks won't come. Teams will continue to do the same thing, triple team him and roll away from him in playaction...

 

[Croak]

I don't understand why Woodson wasn't singled up against Lloyd. Lloyd was toasting the other guys, especially Burnett who is somewhat savvy.

 

[Kitten]

Clay Watch. I saw the same thing, RS. Looks like he's back! I also agree with your reasoning for the lack of sacks. That's not all him. Sometimes it takes more than 1 player to make a sack, but only 1 gets credit for it. Collins out is hurting us bad but it looks like we are learning to adapt without him. Peprah has stepped up today and I'm really impressed with him.

With Matthews I think it's a matter of him assuming a different role on a changing defense. It's just not the Clay we are used to. It says something about his strength as a player that he is able to adapt. Could it be he is even better than last year but just in a different way?

I still think the injuries are slowing him somewhat but I'm also glad we didn't bench him! LOL! Can you imagine this game without him? It may of gone from a blowout to a slightly slanted shootout!

 

[13 Times Champs]

He never went anywhere.

 

[Kitten]

He never went anywhere.

He just morphed is all.

 

[FrankRizzo]

I focused on him a little today and noticed him getting hog-tied, held, mugged a lot.
It was even so bad, I took some photos on my screen. When I get that photo into my computer, I will post it here.

No flags. Disgusting refereeing.

 

[ivo610]

The guys have been pretty ******* hollywood for his lack of sacks. Im sure he will continue to hear it all week still lol