We’re nine games into the season and Clay Matthews hasn’t missed one game with a hamstring injury yet.
Knock on wood.
That’s downright amazing, considering Matthews has a hamstring injury EVERY season. Alright, we’re exaggerating, but he’s had a number of them and he’s certainly missed time because of a hammy the past two seasons.
Well, good news. Matthews is self aware and he’s actually doing something about it.
The issue came up in a Q&A with USA Today and Matthews said he’s made preventing soft tissue injuries part of his training program.
“We always were trying to refine our program. What do we need to do? Eat, sleep, drink, do this, this and that. Finally, we really got after it. We went to this place affiliated with USC – it’s like a movement (center) to see everything from hip rotation to hip extension to glute strength to adduction. Little stuff that just kind of sounds nerdy, but really, when you put it together and when you work on that, you switch your mind to using different muscles. That’s what I’ve really focused on this year. I’ve had a personal trainer out here who works with me seven days a week, outside of football – a lot of corrective and making sure I feel good each and every day. I’ve felt great this year. Obviously, I’ve had nicks and bruises. But for the most part, my biggest thing is, you put me on the field, I’m going to make my plays. So, suit me up for 16 games, the rest is going to fall in line.”
So far, so good anyway.
We’ll be thankful if Matthews makes it through 16 games healthy, which is something he hasn’t done since his rookie year (2009).
Matthews has missed 11 games over the past four seasons. A number of those were because of the broken thumb he suffered last season, but the bulk of them were because of the hamstring.
We don’t know if it’s irony or what, but even though Clay has been healthy this season, his production is way down. He was on pace for just five sacks at the season’s midway point, which would be a career-low.