Clay Matthews says he played second half, playoffs on broken leg

Packers outside linebacker Clay Matthews, who had 13.5 sacks in the 2010 regular season and 3.5 more during Green Bay's postseason run to the Super Bowl championship, played with a broken leg in the second half of the season and in all four postseason games.

"I don't make a big deal of it," Matthews told the Green Bay Press-Gazette. "You can't do anything about it. I was just taking practices off and showing up on game day and giving it my all."


A first-round pick in the 2009 draft, Clay Matthews admitted this week that he played most of last season with a stress fracture in his leg. (AP Photo)
Matthews, who has been selected to the Pro Bowl in each of his first two seasons, was listed on the team's injury report every week from Week 9 through the NFC Championship Game as probable with a shin injury. In fact, it was a stress fracture in his lower leg.

Matthews revealed news of the injury while answering a question about how much the Packers will miss defensive lineman Cullen Jenkins, who signed as a free agent with the Eagles. The presence of Jenkins seemingly helped Matthews, who had 14 of his 17 sacks in the 15 games Jenkins played. In the five games Jenkins missed because of injury, Matthews had only three sacks.

"I also had a stress fracture in four of those games," Matthews said. "But nobody knows that. A sore shin as you guys call it, but that's all right. Obviously, I'm not making any excuses. Cullen is a terrific athlete, and we're definitely going to take a hit in our defensive line, but at the same time I think they have confidence in the guys coming up."

Matthews, who also has had hamstring issues in each of his first two seasons, changed his approach to his offseason training this year. He did a lot more cardiovascular work. As a result, he arrived at training camp weighing six pounds less than last season.

"I put an emphasis on really coming in here in great cardio shape and making sure I had done everything possible that I possibly could to say, 'Hey, this is how we're going to prevent injuries,' " Matthews said. "That's the nature of the beast. You're going to get injured in this game, but I feel good. I feel good about where I'm at headed into my third year and feel like I can definitely outdo what I've put on paper and on film the last two years."

 

"He put the team on his back "

when i read this article i thought about this video: [YOUTUBE]1P0yfq2wDvU[/YOUTUBE]