How badass is Green Bay Packers linebacker [intlink id=”454″ type=”category”]Clay Matthews[/intlink]?
This f’ing badass!
Matthews played the second half of last season with a broken leg. What was reported to be a shin injury was actually a stress fracture in his lower leg.
The linebacker was listed on every injury report from week nine through the NFC Championship game.
“I don’t make a big deal of it,” Matthews said. “(It happened) some time in the middle of the season. You can’t do anything about it. I was just taking practices off and showing up on game day and giving it my all.”
The injury could be partially to blame for Matthews’ second-half drop in production. He had only four sacks in the season’s last eight games after racking up 9.5 in the first eight.
Of course, offenses also began to focus their protection schemes on stopping Matthews after he notched six sacks in the season’s first two games. [intlink id=”163″ type=”category”]Cullen Jenkins[/intlink] also missed the last four games of the season, taking away the Packers other major pass rush threat.
All probably contributed to Matthews’ decrease in production, but he was undeniably still one of the best pass rushers in the game, even with a broken leg.