CLEVELAND -- When Clay Matthews III was in the 2009 NFL Draft, he was known as a ferocious pass rusher, in line with the type of productivity his father, Clay Jr., had during a 19-year career in the National Football League, including 16 seasons with the Cleveland Browns.
And despite encountering multiple injuries and surgeries to repair that damage in nine years in the NFL, Matthews remains a fixture in the Green Bay Packers’ defense.
“Oh no question, he is one of them,” Browns coach Hue Jackson said. “He does jump out. He is a tremendous football player. He is good at what he does. He is very instinctual. He understands how to play the game.
“I think he is a real studier of football and understands what teams are trying to do. Those two inside tackles, they have 97 (Kenny Clark) and 76 (Mike Daniels), who are as good as I have seen, those guys can play. They are really good players, and they do a good job inside.”
In 11 games this season, Matthews has registered 6.5 sacks, 36 total tackles and 25 solo stops.
Matthews is second on the Packers in sacks, trailing only fellow outside linebacker Nick Perry, who has registered seven tackles of opposing quarterbacks behind the line of scrimmage.
“They definitely are our bookends,” Packers coach Mike McCarthy said. “We call on both our linebackers in our defense. We are a different defense when they are both on the field at the same time.
“I know that I am stating the obvious, but they have the experience, a complete understanding and knowing what we are doing and do a great job of keying the offense and their tendencies. They both play the run very well, and obviously, the pass protection is the biggest demand of that position. They are a one-two punch.”
On Sunday, Matthews will compete against a rookie quarterback in DeShone Kizer, who has a rebuilt offensive line that is missing its stalwart left tackle, Joe Thomas, because of a torn triceps tendon in his left arm.
In his first 10 NFL starts, Kizer completed 166 of his 313 attempts (53 percent) for 1,823 yards with five touchdowns against a league-worst 14 interceptions. Additionally, Kizer took 24 sacks for 152 lost yards and held a 57.2 quarterback rating.
Then, in a 19-10 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers last Sunday, Kizer completed 15 of his 32 attempts for 215 yards and one touchdown with a lost strip-sack fumble and interception on the Browns’ final two possessions of the game.
“They are not single-dimensional guys,” Kizer said. “They are going to be a handful for this offensive line to prepare for, but that is what we do. I think that is one of biggest advantages is having Joe Thomas, who has been able to watch these guys consistently and have notes on these guys.
“We have to be able to kind of predict what moves they are going to give us because when you play in this league, as long as they do and they understand our techniques, we have to be able to understand their techniques just as well.”
