Kevin Greene knew...

[kainen]

Pardon me, but I just cannot get enough of Clay Matthews. Here's an article I found that may interest some of you. Some very high praise and thoughts from our exciting Coach Greene on Clay...

Enjoy!

http://www.jsonline.com/sports/packe...m_term=packers

Sudden impact

Desire. Heart. Drive. Those are the qualities that endeared Clay Matthews to linebacker coach Kevin Greene. They're also the ones that helped him exceed almost everyone else's expectations in a record-setting rookie year.

By Rob Reischel, Special to Packer Plus
Posted: Jan. 19, 2010 8:23 p.m.
Green Bay — Kevin Greene was hanging on each and every word that came from Clay Matthews' mouth. And in many ways, Greene felt as though he was listening to himself speak.
Greene, the outside linebackers coach for the Green Bay Packers, was part of a group interviewing Matthews at last February's NFL combine.
When the meeting ended, Greene knew he'd do everything possible to convince his bosses to draft Matthews.
"When I spoke to him in Indy, I came away feeling that this man is on a mission, to prove to everybody that he is a good athlete and a heck of a football player on his own," Greene said. "And I understand that hunger and that drive. That spoke volumes to me, and that's what I loved.
"He was my No. 1 player at that spot, and I let it be known to all the powers that be. I said, 'This is the guy that I think you want.' Then they went and got him, which was even better."
The teacher and his prize pupil just wrapped up their first season together. And my, what a year it was.
Matthews led the Packers with 10 sacks, setting a franchise rookie record. Matthews was fifth on the team in tackles (65), was part of six turnover plays and had a 42-yard fumble return for a touchdown in Minnesota.
Matthews finished third overall in defensive rookie of the year voting. He was also voted as a first alternate for the Pro Bowl, then was added to the roster when Chicago's Lance Briggs dropped out.
"Statistically, yes, I'm probably a little surprised," Matthews said. "But to be quite honest, I felt I could make an impact from the day I got here. I didn't really set a goal in terms of statistics, but I believe in myself.
"And I always thought that once I got to full strength and once I fully knew what I was doing out there, I knew I could have an impact with this team."
So did Greene - perhaps because the mentor saw much of himself in the protégé.
Greene, in his first year of coaching after a stellar 15-year playing career, was a walk-on at Auburn in 1983-'84. He went on to lead the Southeastern Conference in sacks as a senior, then posted 160 NFL sacks, more than any linebacker in league history.
Matthews' story followed a similar script. Matthews was a walk-on at USC, earned a scholarship by his sophomore season, yet never started a game until his senior year. Matthews exploded in his final season, though, and scouts everywhere started taking notice.
As Greene sat with Matthews in Indianapolis, he saw several of the same characteristics that once made him great. Desire. Heart. Drive. Greene insisted Matthews had them all and fully believed he'd be an impact player.
"When we met with Clay, I was looking at more than 40-yard dash and all that," Greene said. "I was looking inside. I looked at his background. Being a former walk-on spoke to me&ensp.&ensp.&ensp.&enspand I know what it takes to not have a scholarship, to work your way up to a starting role. You've got to have a lot of love in your heart and I put a lot of weight in that.
"I can relate to someone walking on, scratching and clawing for everything they can to finally seeing the field."
In a few short months Matthews joined Charles Woodson and perhaps Nick Collins as the most impactful members of Green Bay's defense. And Matthews did so despite a hamstring injury that kept him out of the starting lineup until Week 4.
Once Matthews was healthy, though, he took the league by storm.
Matthews had three games in which he had two sacks. He also had sacks in four consecutive games (Weeks 12-15), becoming the first rookie to achieve that since Chicago's Mark Anderson in 2006.
Matthews wowed teammates and foes with a motor that never died, and he seemed to get faster as games went along.
And even though the Packers' defense disappeared in their playoff loss to Arizona, Matthews didn't, becoming the first rookie to record a sack, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery in a postseason game.
"We're excited about his start," Packer coach Mike McCarthy said of Matthews. "The biggest part I'm excited about, too, is his professionalism. I like the way he comes to work.
"He's the same guy every day. Your rookie year there's always an adjustment that you go through.
"Do they fit into the locker room? Is he accepted in the locker room? Every rookie goes through it. And he's made a pretty seamless transition here to our program. I appreciate that, I'm excited about that, because I think he's going to have great days ahead of him."
Greene agrees. In fact, Greene goes so far as to say Matthews could someday challenge his record for sacks by a linebacker.
"I thought I put some numbers on the board that might never be reached," said Greene, a five-time Pro Bowler. "I mean, 160 is a lot of sacks. But I haven't seen a lot of people come through like Clay. If anybody can do it, he can do it."
Matthews doesn't know about that, but he might just have longevity on his side.
His father, Clay Jr., played 19 seasons with the Cleveland Browns and Atlanta Falcons. His uncle, Bruce, also played 19 years with the Houston Oilers&ensp/ Tennessee Titans.
For now, Matthews was thrilled to post the 10 sacks he did in 2009. He'll now spend the off-season adding a little weight to the 250 pounds he played at and then try and come back even better in 2010.
"I'm always striving for goals, whether it's getting to a Pro Bowl or chasing a sack record," Matthews said. "Obviously, we're a little early&ensp.&ensp.&ensp.&enspbut as the same time I'm always trying to make my presence felt or etch my name in whatever history book there is.
"For Kevin to say that is a great compliment and he understands better than anyone that I'm pretty much a self-made man. I've had to fight and scratch and claw for everything I've gotten. You have to keep that same mindset let K.G. did his whole career. And I guess I'm off to a good start."

[12pack]

Love Clay Matthews. BJ should pay close attention to his effort.

[SporTz FrEaK]

Clay Matthews interview from a few days ago.

“I really enjoyed it,” he said. “It’s definitely a change of pace from Los Angeles, obviously. It’s a lot slower pace to live. I think that’s perfect when you’re in a high-paced, high-intensity business. You’re able to slow down and strictly concentrate on football, and that’s what made it such an easy transition for me too, to have a city that rallies around you and respects football so greatly, and there’s not a lot of distractions to get in your way as in other big cities. So for me, I really enjoyed it and I’m looking forward to spending my entire career in Green Bay.”

[kainen]

That's so darn refreshing. A guy who has his head screwed on exactly right.

Hope he knows the fans would love to have him his entire career, too.

12pack...don't know what you mean about Raji. I believe that given the injury he had to endure, he gave about as good as he had - which, imho, was pretty good. I also believe he has his head on correctly and you'll be eating those words of damning feint praise by the middle of next season.

[12pack]

Originally Posted by kainen

12pack...don't know what you mean about Raji. I believe that given the injury he had to endure, he gave about as good as he had - which, imho, was pretty good. I also believe he has his head on correctly and you'll be eating those words of damning feint praise by the middle of next season.

I'll just go with this.

"B.J. Raji: Played 385 snaps (36.4%), had 37 tackles (five for loss) and just three pressures. Played four positions: LE, NT and RE in base, DT in nickel. Erratic at the point. Flashed big-play explosion but was much more easily displaced by double-teams than Pickett or Jolly. His pass rush was disappointing. Wasn't able to string moves together, and neither his bull rush nor his edge quickness was good enough to many win one-on-ones. High-ankle sprain slowed him until midseason. Staff will demand major improvement in his second season. Grade: D-plus"

[Wilbur]

Raji set himself up for an injury when he blew off training camps due to contract negotiations. I can't feel too sorry for him because he put himself first -- he does need to get his shit more together for the 2010 season and make a better contribution to the defense.

[SporTz FrEaK]

Originally Posted by 12pack

I'll just go with this.

"B.J. Raji: Played 385 snaps (36.4%), had 37 tackles (five for loss) and just three pressures. Played four positions: LE, NT and RE in base, DT in nickel. Erratic at the point. Flashed big-play explosion but was much more easily displaced by double-teams than Pickett or Jolly. His pass rush was disappointing. Wasn't able to string moves together, and neither his bull rush nor his edge quickness was good enough to many win one-on-ones. High-ankle sprain slowed him until midseason. Staff will demand major improvement in his second season. Grade: D-plus"

If you're gonna post someones quote, then you should usually give credit and say where its from/who said it.