When Green Bay Packers linebacker Clay Matthews sat out the team’s week 3 win over Detroit, everyone made note of the fact that he hadn’t missed a game since 2013. What they — and we — didn’t note was the obvious.
That’s the last year Matthews played outside linebacker full time.
Now, Matthews is back at outside linebacker after a year and a half filling in at inside linebacker. And now he’s missed time again…
Matthews has missed 11 games throughout his career, but none while playing on the inside. Could it possibly be the position and/or its duties that are responsible for Matthews’ injuries?
Although that seems idiotic, Matthews seemed to suggest that this week.
“Every play is a full-speed, ballistic get off, so yeah, it can wear on you,” Matthews said. “Especially with the success we’ve had in the run game, teams are going to pass it 40, 50 times a game. But each position is taxing in its own right; especially at that elephant outside linebacker position, every snap is a one-on-one battle.”
There’s some truth to that, of course.
At inside backer, Matthews had the front three to work behind. In Dom Capers’ defense, the front three are primarily responsible for taking up blockers. It’s the inside backers’ job to get to the ball and make the tackle in the running game, while that guy is most likely in coverage in the passing game.
Matthews’ primary job on the outside is to get to the passer. While he’s expected to set the edge in the run game, he usually ignores that and goes for the passer anyway.
So yes, that can perhaps be more taxing on the body.
And whatever you think about Clay Matthews — some of us feel he’s overrated, others feel he’s a great player — he does change the game. He changes the game because opposing offenses need to plan for him.
And regardless of how you view him, that’s why he’s valuable to the Packers on the field. And that’s where he needs to be.
He’s no longer elite outside and hasn’t been for years. Put him inside rotationally and move him around in obvious passing situations. He’s not ancient like Peppers but he’s no spring chicken either. Minimize his snaps until they are crucial in the later stages of the game.
This ^^^^ Bravo AY HOMBRE . . .
The only problem is if you have a player who can make plays how do you know that the real important play(s) only happen later in the game. As a great Packer coach once said “Two or three plays in a game spell victory or defeat; you never know when that play is coming up.” Lombardi.
Thank you for the infusion of common sense.
You can’t move him inside because he cries just like he did the past couple of seasons when the DC put him there. He’s definitely over rated.
I theorized that despite the NFL investigation Clay would still take PEDs because his legacy depended on it — if his play suddenly tailed off the previous PED usage would be obvious. However, he was very fearful of the investigation and may be quite fearful he will be caught using and THAT will ruin his reputation.
Now, PEDs, besides being performance enhancers, also help speed recovery from injuries and to even prevent them. After all, that is why Peyton had them delivered to his house in his wife’s name when he was trying to come back from that neck injury. What if the injury history and times of being injury free actually chart the PED usage?
A timeline:
1. Age 17 to age 23 Clay gains 81 pounds of muscle and increases his speed and quickness.
USING
2. Rumors come out Clay and Brian Cushing — fellow linebackers and college teammates and members of the same daft class tested positive for PEDs at the combine. Their agents deny this.
USING
3. Cushing is caught by NFL after a great rookie season using PEDs and is suspended. Clay is perhaps concerned he is next. Cushing as well. Cushing is not caught again but also never again plays like the rookie phenom pro bowler future Hall of Famer. Clay starts to pick up injuries especially hamstring injuries. His body was simply never meant to carry that weight in muscle and never would have without PEDs. Without PEDs supporting this artificial physique break downs occur.
USAGE REDUCED or DISCONTINUED
4. Matthews is moved to inside linebacker and also feels the pressure of endorsement deals and loss of relevance as he is clearly a second or third tier “star” defender overall. Despite more tackles and dealing with more blocks and combo blocks mysteriously Matthews suddenly has no injuries and no hamstring issues.
USING
5. NFL investigates and Matthews is moved back to OLB — where he has less contact and fewer hits — and he goes back to having hamstring issues.
NOT USING?
Gaining muscles isn’t hard from age 17-23. That’s usually the time your body starts to develop into an adult. Imagine training and eating like a football player from the time you start college to your NFL career, that’s like 3-5 years. Gaining 50-80 pounds during that time isn’t impossible. Your body also starts to become stronger and faster also. 17 years old is still very young and has a lot of time to develop….The decline is probably 29-31 years old.
Well, Clay could not even get playing time on the HS team coached by his Dad he was such a poor athlete/player as a 165 lb. 17 year old. Then he actually gained 60 pounds of muscle in three years and then another 21 pounds the three years after that. Once drafted and subject to NFL testing it seems he cut down on the PEDs as he simply maintained the exact same weight all these years. So, that is some really weird weight gain, an arc that makes no human sense — per year weight gain (all muscle with increased speed despite the greatly increased weight) of 20, 20, 20, 7, 7, 7, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 0, etc. An arc like that is not due to a growth spurt. That right there is PED usage.
As the great (in his own mind) “Fatguts” pointed out most humans when infused for 6 years with PEDs would not be able to gain 81 pounds from age 17 to 23. Only a tiny percentage of athletes could gain that kind of muscle in the time span even if they were inundated in PEDs. That is with PEDS. Without? That percentage may be zero.
The fact he immediately stopped gaining weight when he hit the NFL does not mean he stopped using PEDs. The muscles gained will melt away in time unless you continue to use PEDs. But he probably did cut back to the minimum needed to maintain the illicit weight. If he has been using — and it is nearly certain he has — then Clay, when he retires, will lose weight and melt back to about 220 or 215. Most players gain weight when they retire and as they get older but Clay will be an exception. This sets him up nicely for a contract promoting SlimFast.
To provide further perspective take a look at DE Danielle Hunter of the Vikes. He is 6’5″ with bizarrely long arms. So he has a much bigger frame for weight than Matthews and, by all accounts, spends more time working out. He is an avid weightlifter. When drafted he was 252 lb. and 20 years old. He is now 21 and spent the last year in an NFL weightlifting program, his own work out regimen, AND working out with AP who is famous for his work outs. Guess what AP and Hunter did a lot of in the off season? Doing REVERSE bear crawls UP hills!
Result? He gained a few pounds. In the next two years do you think he will end up weighing 273? Even if so with a frame like his the accomplishment would be nothing compared to what Matthews did with PEDs at 6’2″. Many players drafted are 21 or 22 years of age but you just don’t see them gaining many pounds of muscle with increased speed — even on an NFL weight program and diet. Quick, name three players who were X when drafted at 21 but weighed X + 14 pounds art 23 two years later. Most players are older than 21 when drafted but, if you take the hundreds who were 20 or 21 or 22, how many of them gained 7 pounds of muscle per year until 23? I think it is zero but go ahead and list the names if it is not zero.
In sum, PED usage by Clay could only be more obvious if Clay confessed or a video of him doing it was leaked. Without those, it is as obvious as it possibly could be.
Same story….21st time posted.
G A L
Clay’s probably PED usage will be a story from now until years after he retires. Get used to it. Denial serves you well PF4L, of course, as usual, but this will never really go away.
Same old cut and paste. It is the bloodline. In addition, Clay, his brother, and cousins have the benefit that their fathers, and grandfather were pro athletes. The father figures new what it took to be professional athletes. The weight training, training, and nutrition regiments that is part of being a pro athlete was passed from fathers to sons. The trial and error process of training as pro athletes developed by the elder Matthews greatly benefited the children in their development. While some universities were just developing quality training and nutrition programs, the Matthews family had the knowledge of proven professional training and nutrition programs.
It is not uncommon that college athletes put on 15 to 25 pounds a year in current college programs. In fact look up the Star tribune article of March 31, 2016, if you want to read how it is done at the university of Minnesota and other colleges. The article is about a player named Andrew Stelter who put on 50 pounds in two years without PEDs. The article also goes into great detail how the weight is applied until you reach the weight you want to maintain. Just like Matthews, and other college, and pro athletes add size and speed. Hard work and good nutrition.
You are just put out that the Matthews family was ahead of the times because of their vast experience as pro athletes. It is a good thing that father figures pass their knowledge on to their children, show interest in their children’s development, and goals, and commit their lives to the well being of their children.
You need to learn some life lessons before you slander others including their family members.
It is amazing how one does not need to read comments from some posters and yet know exactly what the narrative is. Imagine that, Killer posting PED bullshit with no proof in an article about Clay Matthews yet again. Killer doesn’t understand hypocrisy because he holds a PhD (for Piled Higher & Deeper, just like the webcomic) in Trollology.
Howard, Stelter gained 48 pounds on a 6’4″ frame to be exact. He was also on a 7,000 calorie diet. It is an imperfect comparison. Matthews and his family claim Clay did it through working out alone, no specialized diet. That just does not happen.
Go find a 17 year old at 6’1″ and weighing 165. Get him to start working out. You think you can get him to 185 in 1 year? 205 in two years? 225 in three years?
A few other notes:
* I did no cut and pasting.
* Casey and Clay are brothers with the same parents and Casey turned out very different despite the same parents. Thus the bloodlines argument and the parental guidance arguments are invalid.
* I’ve heard the bloodlines thing before. Packer fans do not seem to realize that the father only supplies half the chromosomes. Or that no bloodlines cause a weight gain of pure muscle arc of 81 pounds in 6 years (and 60 of that in just three years).
* Clay has never credited his weight gain to his family and relatives being “ahead of the times”. Nope, just his own working out.
* You provide no evidence anyway of Clay’s family being “ahead of the times”. Do you have a photo of a time-traveling Delorean parked in their weedy back yard?
* You say: “It is a good thing that father figures pass their knowledge on to their children, show interest in their children’s development, and goals, and commit their lives to the well being of their children.” Uh, yeah. What does that have to do with Clay? What firsthand insight do you have as to Matthews’ family dynamics and interactions? The possible valid answers to that question are either A) None, or, B) Zero.
* Also, if the Matthews family committed their lives to their children then why has Clay been taking PEDs? (That was a purposely inflammatory statement for humorous effect but hopefully you get the point)
* I am actually “put out” that Clay most likely has been taking PEDs and profiting off it and basically stole an NFL roster spot from a hard working natural player who actually deserves it.
* I have learned a life lesson that where there is smoke, usually there is fire especially if there is a lot of smoke and the smoke appears repeatedly. Smoke: Bizarre weight gain of pure muscle with increased speed. Smoke: Word that Clay tested positive for PEDs at the combine. Smoke: Friend, teammate, fellow linebacker Brian Cushing had the same news and then was soon caught in the NFL taking PEDs. Smoke: Clay’s musculature. PED users have talked about how the PEDs create a balloned look to the arms and how Clay’s arms look exactly how they would expect them to look for a PED user. Smoke: Clay’s teammate Mike Neal was a PED user while they played together and were buddies together and played linebacker together. Smoke: An admitted drug dealer talked when he thought he off the record about Clay asking for illegal drugs. He did not ask him for PEDs but obviously likely has a PED dealer already. But it does show Clay is willing to break rules and laws, the first requirement for a PED user. Smoke: Clay’s reaction to the accusation was classic guilty person claiming innocence. Smoke: Clay’s fear of being interviewed by the NFL. Smoke: Clay back to being injured.
* Since I wrote it and did not speak it the word you are looking for is libel, not slander. America has something called freedom of speech. This freedom is protected. True libel (or slander) involves actively and intentionally making a false statement about someone (or something like a company) that a person already knows is false AND that the statement causes provable harm to the victim. So, you would have to prove Clay is not and never has taken PEDs (impossible), prove that I knew he had never (impossible), prove that I was stating it was a fact Clay had (I believe it, suspect it, and odds very heavily favor it but I have never claimed to have absolute proof), and then prove that Clay was harmed by it (like that the CEO of Campbell’s soup provides a written signed affidavit that they discontinued their contract with Clay because they read KILLER’s post….).
* You seem to claim I slandered (libeled) Clay’s family members. Not true. But when did I even express an opinion on them?
You are correct Killer, it is Libel, my error. It is also defamation.
All your other arguments are without merit. Keep it simple it leaves more time to spend with your family.
More killer novels and reruns? How about we all chip in a dollar and try to by killer a life.
In a small school football program I went from 130lbs to 185lbs in two years while gaining 7/10 of a second on my 40 time. While only growing 1.5″. It isn’t impossible. And I never used PEDs. Protein rich diet and intense weight training. That is without access to USCs training program, which I am sure is too notch.
Howard, Stelter gained 48 pounds on a 6’4″ frame to be exact. He was also on a 7,000 calorie diet. It is an imperfect comparison. Matthews and his family claim Clay did it through working out alone, no specialized diet. That just does not happen.
Go find a 17 year old at 6’1″ and weighing 165. Get him to start working out. You think you can get him to 185 in 1 year? 205 in two years? 225 in three years?
A few other notes:
* I did no cut and pasting.
* Casey and Clay are brothers with the same parents and Casey turned out very different despite the same parents. Thus the bloodlines argument and the parental guidance arguments are invalid.
* I’ve heard the bloodlines thing before. Packer fans do not seem to realize that the father only supplies half the chromosomes. Or that no bloodlines cause a weight gain of pure muscle arc of 81 pounds in 6 years (and 60 of that in just three years).
* Clay has never credited his weight gain to his family and relatives being “ahead of the times”. Nope, just his own working out.
* You provide no evidence anyway of Clay’s family being “ahead of the times”. Do you have a photo of a time-traveling Delorean parked in their weedy back yard?
* You say: “It is a good thing that father figures pass their knowledge on to their children, show interest in their children’s development, and goals, and commit their lives to the well being of their children.” Uh, yeah. What does that have to do with Clay? What firsthand insight do you have as to Matthews’ family dynamics and interactions? The possible valid answers to that question are either A) None, or, B) Zero.
* Also, if the Matthews family committed their lives to their children then why has Clay been taking PEDs? (That was a purposely inflammatory statement for humorous effect but hopefully you get the point)
* I am actually “put out” that Clay most likely has been taking PEDs and profiting off it and basically stole an NFL roster spot from a hard working natural player who actually deserves it.
* I have learned a life lesson that where there is smoke, usually there is fire especially if there is a lot of smoke and the smoke appears repeatedly. Smoke: Bizarre weight gain of pure muscle with increased speed. Smoke: Word that Clay tested positive for PEDs at the combine. Smoke: Friend, teammate, fellow linebacker Brian Cushing had the same news and then was soon caught in the NFL taking PEDs. Smoke: Clay’s musculature. PED users have talked about how the PEDs create a balloned look to the arms and how Clay’s arms look exactly how they would expect them to look for a PED user. Smoke: Clay’s teammate Mike Neal was a PED user while they played together and were buddies together and played linebacker together. Smoke: An admitted drug dealer talked when he thought he off the record about Clay asking for illegal drugs. He did not ask him for PEDs but obviously likely has a PED dealer already. But it does show Clay is willing to break rules and laws, the first requirement for a PED user. Smoke: Clay’s reaction to the accusation was classic guilty person claiming innocence. Smoke: Clay’s fear of being interviewed by the NFL. Smoke: Clay back to being injured.
* Since I wrote it and did not speak it the word you are looking for is libel, not slander. America has something called freedom of speech. This freedom is protected. True libel (or slander) involves actively and intentionally making a false statement about someone (or something like a company) that a person already knows is false AND that the statement causes provable harm to the victim. So, you would have to prove Clay is not and never has taken PEDs (impossible), prove that I knew he had never (impossible), prove that I was stating it was a fact Clay had (I believe it, suspect it, and odds very heavily favor it but I have never claimed to have absolute proof), and then prove that Clay was harmed by it (like that the CEO of Campbell’s soup provides a written signed affidavit that they discontinued their contract with Clay because they read KILLER’s post….).
* You seem to claim I slandered (libeled) Clay’s family members. Not true. But when did I even express an opinion on them?
Please note I tried to post the above long comment (admittedly long, twice as long as a Wisconsin term paper in fact) and their was an error so I clicked “Post Comment” again. After a long pause, it then showed up twice. Sorry for the error, it was not intentional. These strange web site idiosyncrasies frighten unfrozen caveman KILLER.
Sorry to all the others who have to scroll through Killers novels and repeat of novels. I do apologize.
Killer….Please note: You need to find a life
They never answered because you never did slander the family.
Yes Kato, but due to all those grades you flunked that was 55 pounds across 9 years, only a little over 6 pounds per year. That is no comparison to Clay’s 13.5 pounds per year.
Look at the reality. Clay Matthews is a pretty average outside linebacker. Yeah, he can pressure the QB, but if that QB is very mobile or is good at hiding a hand off to an elusive RB, he tends to overrun the play and lose containment. Joseph Bonham’s comment is spot on: “Matthews’ primary job on the outside is to get to the passer. While he’s expected to set the edge in the run game, he usually ignores that and goes for the passer anyway.” He wants to play the outside because of the headlines when he gets a sack. AJ Hawk seldom got big headlines (sacks), but he got LOTS of tackles unselfishly playing inside. I prefer to have Matthews on the field making tackles (with an occasional headline – aka a sack) instead of him on the sidelines in civies because he got injured again chasing air trying to get the glory play.
In defense of killer….
I’m told, by a very reliable source, that killer is highly qualified to speak on the condition of young male teen bodys. My source gave me qualifications of killers past experience with young male’s and how their body’s should or shouldn’t look (through his eyes).
*My source noted killers experience in grammar school, on how he would carefully study and take (notes) pictures of the boys body’s in the shower after P. E.
My source tells me that killers obsession with young teen bodys led him to fail his senior year in H. S. on purpose, so he’d have the opportunity to continue his young teen male body (research) for a fifth year.
Also, my source tells me that killer got expelled in his 5th year, but then 3 years later he finally passed his GED exam’s. Then became a boys swimming coach for grades 1-8 at a school outside his district, that hadn’t yet heard the whispers and rumors.
This is just a small sample of killers qualifications from my source.
My source…also would like to remind killer to go upstairs, and take the chicken out of the freezer.
PF4L, you never advanced past age 15 emotionally and socially.
Giants 31, Packer 20
Ok, but don’t forget about the chicken.
PF4L
More killer novels and reruns? How about we all chip in a dollar and try to by killer a life.
Can we BUY you a Thesaurus if we all chip in a dollar? You’re on here just as much as anyone else so get a life.