Linebacker shakes off rust chasing Vick
By Tom Silverstein of the Journal Sentinel
Sept. 13, 2010
Philadelphia — If there was any doubt that the Green Bay Packers did the right thing holding linebacker Clay Matthews out of the final four weeks of training camp, it was blown to smithereens on Lincoln Financial Field.
Matthews looked more than recovered from a hamstring injury he suffered in the team's intrasquad scrimmage Aug. 7, turning a performance worthy of a player far less rusty than the second-year linebacker. All Matthews did was lead the team in tackles with seven, sacks with two and force a fumble, all in a 27-20 victory on the road.
About the only thing he was kicking himself for was a dropped interception that he had a chance to return a long way, possibly for a touchdown.
"No, not even close," Matthews said when asked if this was the best game of his career. "Statistics don't mean anything. Some of the best games I've had I've had zero sacks or zero tackles. I thought I did all right statistically speaking, but there's a lot to improve on.
"What, we're talking four weeks off? There's a lot of rust I need to shake off. It was a good way to start the season, let's just leave it at that."
Matthews sat out most of training camp last year with the same hamstring pull and the Packers are probably wondering if it might be a good idea to make him miss camp every year. Perhaps the most impressive part of Matthews' performance was the number of snaps he was able to play, especially considering the second half turned into "Get Michael Vick."
Matthews spent hardly any time dropping into coverage and continually chased after Vick. Had starter Kevin Kolb not been knocked out with a concussion - suffered when Matthews chased and tackled him from behind - Matthews might have had a few more sacks.
Vick escaped pressure at every turn, but it was Matthews who often made him seek comfort outside the pocket. This was the first substantial viewing of coordinator Dom Capers' plan to make Matthews as opportunistic in the scheme as cornerback Charles Woodson.
Capers moved Matthews from the right side to the left in training camp and then showed all the possibilities that are available for him to avoid double teams. Matthews rushed from a number of different positions and made his game-saving fourth-and-1 stop while lined up on the right side.
"That's part of the deal," Capers said. "Everybody was kind of concerned about him playing over on the left side. Well, if you've got a guy like him, you have to do with him like you do with Charles."
Matthews said that he did as much conditioning as his hamstring would allow during the weeks he was sidelined, but he said there was no way to prepare for what occurred Sunday. Capers tried to give him a rest here and there, but aside from a couple of snaps he had to take off when his chin strap broke, he was perpetually on the field.
He said the way he got through it was to push himself.
"You know, I'm tired, but what am I going to come out and take a breath?" Matthews said. "Only when I was chasing Vick on his 30-yard run, it was like OK, now I'm really tired. You know, I'm good enough to go another play. It's just one more play, one more play, let's get off the field.
"Especially for a guy like me, I never want to come out and miss an opportunity to make a play and help my team. I did all right tonight."
It was apparent from the beginning that Matthews intended to have some kind of impact on the game, his first since the playoff loss to Arizona in January. Just how much he could actually accomplish having not practiced with the defense much and not taken many snaps from the left side was something nobody could predict.
Except Matthews.
"Before the game, he said, 'Pick, I'm going to get three sacks,' " defensive lineman Ryan Pickett said. "I don't know if they gave him the third one, but he was close. He had a real good game."
Matthews got his first sack on a delayed blitz where he was shadowing Kolb in the middle of the field and then took off straight through an open lane. Kolb had no chance as the speeding Matthews got on him and dumped him for a loss on third and 10.
He was at it again when he forced Kolb out of the pocket with an edge rush and nearly sacked him. Kolb scrambled to the sideline where Matthews caught him from behind, stripped the ball and landed hard on his back.
The ball rolled out of bounds. Kolb was clearly shaken. He eventually left the game with a concussion and in came Vick.
"I think it was a different game because Kolb is more of a gunslinger and then Vick comes in and he is more of a runner," Matthews said. "Vick has a ton of speed and you cannot go flying in on him and you have to contain him. We did not expect it, but we learned what we need to do and made the right adjustments."
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