Green Bay Packers playmaker B.J. Raji – and his dance – set to enter national spotlight
By Mike Vandermause, Green Bay Press-Gazette
~Is there anything B.J. Raji can’t do for the Green Bay Packers?
The 337-pound nose tackle is a run-stuffing behemoth on the No. 2-ranked scoring defense in the NFL. He has nimble feet that allow him to make plays away from the line of scrimmage. He can rush the passer and has the third-leading sack total on the team to prove it.
Green Bay Packers' B.J. Raji returns an interception into the end zone for a touchdown against Chicago during the fourth quarter of the NFC Championship game Sunday, January, 23, 2011, at Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois.
Lately Raji has been used as a blocker on offense in goal-line situations. He served as the perfect decoy against the Chicago Bears in the NFC championship game when he plunged up the middle and fooled the Bears defenders long enough to free up quarterback Aaron Rodgers to score on a bootleg run.
Raji also shocked the world against the Bears when he dropped back in coverage in the fourth quarter and intercepted a Caleb Hanie pass and returned it for a touchdown that proved to be the difference in the Packers’ 21-14 victory.
If there’s one thing Raji hasn’t been proficient at this season, it’s dancing.
Raji’s celebration dance after scoring that decisive touchdown was a little short on style points, but it has landed him in the national spotlight. You Tube videos, including one produced by University of Wisconsin-Green Bay staff members, are all the rage with fans attempting to dance “The Raji.”
“I didn’t know it would be such a big hit,” said Raji. “It just goes to show the support that you get from the Green Bay fans. It’s great to be part of it.”
If Raji isn’t careful when he takes the national stage this week in preparation for the Super Bowl, his dance sensation might sweep the nation much like the Bears’ Super Bowl shuffle did in the 1980s. Big plays in big games tend to attract a lot of attention, as Raji’s interception and touchdown did, and a corny celebration only adds to the attraction.
Some of his teammates rolled their eyes when discussing Raji’s dancing skills. But they love what he brings to the defense.
“He’s real explosive,” said defensive end Cullen Jenkins. “You look at him and he’s not the tallest (and he doesn’t have) the longest arms, but what he does have is a lot of power.
Raji and Clay Matthews (2009 first round draft picks) appear to be the best 1st round draft combo since the daily double the Tampa Bay Buccaneers hit with Warren Sapp and Derrick Brooks in the 1995 draft that led to multiple playoff appearances and top-ranked defenses for Monte Kiffen's defense.
“And he’s so quick. Anytime he makes up his mind about where he wants to go, there’s not too many people that can stop him and get in his way.”
Those are the skills General Manager Ted Thompson had in mind when he drafted Raji with the No. 9 overall pick in 2009. The Packers needed a force in the middle of their new 3-4 defense, and Raji has filled the bill perfectly.
Pittsburgh Steelers defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau, a noted 3-4 expert, has called Raji the key to the Packers’ defensive success.
Raji takes such compliments in stride. “I appreciate that comment, but we have a lot of great players on this defense,” he said.
He has fielded a few more text messages and telephone calls this past week after the Bears game, but nothing else has changed.
“I don’t anticipate anything going to my head,” Raji said. “That’s not the type of person I am.”
Normally nose tackles toil in anonymity in the NFL, but Raji is clearly an exception, especially after his big interception that left teammates in awe.
“You never see a defensive lineman make that play,” said defensive end Ryan Pickett. “It was just perfect. That was awesome to watch.”
Now that Raji has proven his ability to handle the football, it’s possible he could get a rushing attempt in the Super Bowl and score an offensive touchdown, just like the Bears’ William “The Refrigerator” Perry did 25 years ago.
Teammates lately have been calling Raji “The Freezer” and would love to see him show off his moves against the Steelers.
“You like to see guys out there having fun and playing,” said Jenkins. “Hopefully he can get out there and do some more dancing next Sunday.”
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Steelers boast decorated Super Bowl-experienced veterans
By Rob Reischel, Journal-Sentinel
~Green Bay — The Pittsburgh Steelers’ roster is dotted with Super Bowl heroes. From Ben Roethlisberger to James Harrison to Hines Ward, the Steelers have a “been there, done that” attitude about the world’s biggest sporting event.
In all, Pittsburgh has 14 current starters who have won a Super Bowl championship. The Steelers have 10 players with two rings and 25 players who have competed in a Super Bowl.
Hines Ward shows off his two championship rings. The receiver was MVP of Super Bowl XL.
The Green Bay Packers haven’t been in a Super Bowl since 1997. The only Packers to play in a Super Bowl are cornerback Charles Woodson and defensive end Ryan Pickett, and both played on losing teams.
When these teams meet for the Vince Lombardi Trophy on Feb. 6, the Steelers will have an enormous advantage in experience. The Packers are going to try convincing themselves over the next eight days that component doesn’t matter.
“I look at it like the hungry dog hunts harder than the fat dog,” Packers tight end Donald Lee said. “And we have a lot of hungry dogs in this locker room that are willing to do whatever it takes to win that game. I’m sure they’re willing to do what it takes, too, but if I was a betting man, I’d bet my money on the hungry dog.”
This is the Steelers’ third Super Bowl appearance in six years. Pittsburgh defeated Seattle and Arizona in Super Bowls XL and XLIII, respectively, and many of its key players from those teams remain.
Ward was the MVP of Super Bowl XL after catching five passes for 123 yards and a touchdown. Harrison had one of the most memorable plays in Super Bowl history with a 100-yard interception return for a touchdown in Super Bowl XLIII. And Roethlisberger was the winning quarterback in each of those games.
Others like Pro Bowl safety Troy Polamalu, mammoth nose tackle Casey Hampton, steady tight end Heath Miller and splendid linebackers LaMarr Woodley, James Farrior and Larry Foote have all played a role in Pittsburgh’s recent dominance. Even 38-year-old head coach Mike Tomlin, now in his fourth year, has a Super Bowl win on his résumé.
Pittsburgh’s roster is packed with players who have enjoyed great success on Super Sunday.
“It’s meaningful,” Packers head coach Mike McCarthy admitted. “But we’re aware of it and understand that we haven’t been there before, and that’s something we’ll talk about and make sure expectations and responsibilities (are) clear for everybody.”
Packers running back John Kuhn was on the Steelers’ practice squad in 2006 and got a ring after Pittsburgh beat Seattle that year. Kuhn never played in that game, though.
Pickett was a rookie with St. Louis in 2001 when the Rams lost to New England in Super Bowl XXXVI. And Woodson was part of Oakland’s 2002 team that was routed by Tampa Bay in Super Bowl XXXVII.
Beyond that, Green Bay’s roster is devoid of Super Bowl experience.
“I believe if we stay calm and stay cool and understand what’s going on, everything will work out,” Packers running back Brandon Jackson said. “We’ve been on the big stage before, not as big as this, but as far as playoffs and everything like that, we’ve been on that type of stage. We’re going to handle our business, stay calm and cool and everything will work out.”
On Friday, several Packers said they believed Pittsburgh’s experience might be more beneficial during the week leading up to the game than the actual game. Super Bowl week is packed with potential distractions, and that experience will be new to most of Green Bay’s players.
“I think the only advantage they have on us is getting through the week and dealing with the distractions,” Kuhn said. “They will have experienced that before and they know how to play that game. We are well aware of that and we know the advantage they might have in the distraction game.
“But when we get into the game, then it’s just the Super Bowl. Then it’s just a football game. We’ve all experienced plenty of football games, but it’s the event around the Super Bowl that nobody has experienced.”
Last season, a New Orleans team making its first trip to the Super Bowl upset a veteran Indianapolis team. In Super Bowl XLII, a New York Giants team with little Super Bowl experience stunned New England, which had won three Super Bowls earlier in the decade.
The inexperienced Packers believe they’ve earned their stripes with three straight postseason road wins. Now, a veteran Pittsburgh team stands in Green Bay’s way of greatness.
“When it comes down to it, it’s still about playing the game,” Packers rookie tight end Tom Crabtree said. “It’s not about what you’ve done in the past, or if we’ve been to Super Bowls before. When it comes down to it, it’s the same game we’ve played all year.”
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49ers, NFL, pay for passing on Rodgers 23 times in the 2005 Draft
By Mark Kreidler, ESPN.com
~It lays out so beautifully now, doesn’t it? It’s just like they drew it up.
That time in the green room — the four hours and 35 minutes Aaron Rodgers spent waiting to hear his name called in the 2005 NFL draft — was divine intervention, not humiliation on a stick. Getting passed over by 21 teams, including the one that was seriously flirting with making him the No. 1 pick, was but a footnote to greatness.
Aaron Rodgers had to wait on draft day until the Packers took him at No. 24.
Being chosen by a Green Bay franchise featuring a future Hall of Famer who was unwilling to seriously discuss giving up his job was a gateway to Rodgers’ success, not the great wall of career obstruction. Sitting behind Brett Favre for three years ultimately produced seasoning, where bitterness easily might have pooled.
Today, one can look at Rodgers and see that he is on the verge of emphatically completing a historically rare feat: following a legend into a quarterback job and succeeding at it.
Really, though, one of the clear readings of Rodgers’ journey is that just enough things went exactly wrong to eventually produce something terribly right.
Start with that ’05 draft, a story that Packers fans already know well. Wait, don’t start there. We’ll get to the San Francisco 49ers‘ organizational face-plant in a minute. Begin, instead, with the idea that Rodgers landed on the football radar in the first place almost by mistake.
Rodgers graduated from high school in Chico, Calif., to zero scholarship offers from NCAA Division I programs. None. (Note to kids who love football: It’s never really over, is it?) He enrolled at nearby Butte Community College. He was there, biding his time, when Cal football coach Jeff Tedford arrived to scout Butte’s tight end. Tedford found a quarterback for his trouble.
NEW YORK - APRIL 23: Quarterback Aaron Rodgers (California) poses with his jersey after being drafted 24th overall by the Green Bay Packers during the 70th NFL Draft on April 23, 2005 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City. (Photo by Chris Trotman/Getty Images)
After a breakout career at Cal, Rodgers was considered by some to be a draft risk, partly because Tedford’s previous quarterback charges (Akili Smith and Kyle Boller, among others) had fared only modestly by NFL high-pick standards. Rodgers was knocked by some for being cocky, which, as the passage of time suggests, likely is one of the qualities — firmly entrenched self-confidence — that kept him going for three years as Favre’s clipboard carrier. But there you go.
Alex Smith was the high-octane product of Urban Meyer’s offense at Utah. He was a little taller than Rodgers and thought by some to be more pro-ready. Though Meyer cautioned that Smith would need adjustment time to figure out the NFL style, 49ers coach Mike Nolan and his front office, a group that included current Packers coach Mike McCarthy, were enchanted.
The 49ers took a long look at Rodgers, the Northern California kid who grew up idolizing Joe Montana and had San Francisco at the top of the list of teams for which he would most like to play. But on draft day, with the first overall pick, the Niners blew right by him in favor of Smith.
Missed it by that much.
Summoned to New York by the NFL for draft day, Rodgers proceeded to sit in the waiting room through 23 picks, the room gradually emptying out and the other handful of players who had been invited for the event hearing their names called and going out to meet their new teams. After the 49ers at the top, teams drafted for need, and Rodgers wasn’t the need.
When the Packers finally took Rodgers at No. 24 — four and a half hours and perhaps $30 million removed from that No. 1 pick — the fans at the Javits Center, on Manhattan’s West Side, gave him a long, loud ovation. They were perhaps more relieved than anything. Rodgers said something that day about how God had been teaching him humility and patience. Both were in play.
We see now what a beautiful pathway was cleared. One can see that, while Smith was thrown to the wolves by the 49ers in his rookie season behind a dreadful offensive line, Rodgers went to Green Bay and began to learn the pro game while watching Favre play it. While Smith got beaten up and yanked around through six offensive coordinators in six years, Rodgers studied his craft and eventually, though not effortlessly, took over a Packers offense that already was functioning at high levels.
As many people suggested at the time (this space included), Rodgers got the better end of the deal. And so did the Pack.
The Sporting News had it right, at least the arm grades. Rodgers may not have the same straight line foot-speed as Smith, but Rodgers has been the best running QB other than Michael Vick.
The speculation now about how things might have gone had Rodgers been the No. 1 pick, and thus sentenced to life with the dysfunctional 49ers, misses the point. There’s no going back. There certainly is no predicting that Smith could have enjoyed the kind of career Rodgers is having, because only Rodgers and the Packers have created that. Rodgers has earned every compliment. No matter what anyone thinks about Favre this minute, the larger truth is that Rodgers had to step in for a legend at Lambeau Field. It was never easy.
In the modern NFL, perhaps only Steve Young, who followed Montana, has pulled off a similar feat. Young’s path, too, was substantially less obvious — life in the USFL; years spent running from defenders in Tampa Bay; a trade to the 49ers that left him walking the sidelines watching Montana play.
In the end, Young’s circuitous route led to the Hall of Fame. Rodgers, meanwhile, finds himself one victory from hoisting the Lombardi Trophy. Funny thing about the road to greatness: It’s sometimes in the last place you look.
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Where would the Packers be right now had the 49ers not screwed it up at the top? They made the classic mistake of going with the taller, larger guy, as Seattle did in 1991 taking QB McGwire over QB Favre.
Player of the Game: Tramon Williams
By Tommy Silverstein, Journal-Sentinel
~Atlanta — It’s too late for all those voters to reposition their check marks next to the name of Green Bay Packers cornerback Tramon Williams, but it’s not too late for him to have the last word.
Packers cornerback Tramon Williams (38) is congratulated by teammates Erik Walden (left) and Nick Collins after picking off a pass in the end zone against the Falcons.
Had the balloting for the Pro Bowl and all-pro lasted through the postseason, Williams might have been the NFL defensive player of the year given the way he has played in the Packers’ two playoff victories.
On Saturday night in an NFC divisional-round upset victory against the Atlanta Falcons, Williams topped his game-saving interception against Philadelphia with two more. One was a near replica of his end-zone pick of Eagles quarterback Michael Vick, and the other, a momentum-changing grab-and-run for a 70-yard touchdown.
“I guess that’s one way to shut people up is to go to the Super Bowl not the Pro Bowl,” Williams said. “I didn’t need that motivation. Every game is motivation.”
Williams not only has become one of the finest cornerbacks in the NFL, he has become one of the smartest.
His touchdown, which came on the final play of the first half and gave the Packers a 28-14 lead, was the result of film study earlier in the week. He recognized a formation the Falcons use when they’re trying to get a short completion – in this case to set up a field goal – and he knew what route receiver Roddy White was going to run.
“I baited him a little bit,” Williams said of Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan, who came into the game with just nine interceptions but was pick-pocketed twice by the Packers’ top cornerback.
White was running an out toward the Falcons sideline and Williams let him get outside, knowing exactly what was coming next.
“I played outside leverage and I let him get by me, and once he made the out-cut, I broke on it,” Williams said.
The Packers went from tied at 14 to up 14 thanks to his touchdown and some scoring magic from his offensive teammates. It was the kind of turnaround that defines seasons, and in this case it laid the path to the NFC Championship Game next Sunday.
“That right there was the dagger we needed,” safety Nick Collins said. “You go up two touchdowns and that’s huge.”
Williams’ other interception wasn’t as dramatic, but it was just as critical. The Falcons were in position to kick a field goal with 2 minutes 30 seconds to go but were facing a third and 21. Ryan decided to take a shot down the sideline to receiver Michael Jenkins, but he should have known better.
The Packers were in a Cover-2 defense and Williams had the underneath route. Jenkins ran by him, and when Ryan unloaded the pass, Williams ran back to where Jenkins was in the end zone, leaped high – just as he did on the Vick interception – and hauled in the pick.
Jenkins fell on the play and Ryan’s average arm wasn’t enough to fit the ball in the tight window that opened between Williams and the back of the end zone.
“Matt put too much air under the ball,” Williams said. “If it was a rope, he might have snuck it in, but you have to throw it a lot earlier.”
Williams made the pick, added the other one and then found himself brought up to the news conference podium usually reserved for coach Mike McCarthy and quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
“This is the first time I’ve been up here,” he said.
Probably not the last, however.
Redemption song: One person who was happy the Packers had a short week was receiver James Jones, whose drop of a long Rodgers pass nearly cost the Packers their first-round game in Philadelphia.
Nevertheless, the Atlanta game couldn’t have come soon enough.
“It was a very long week because I had dropped that ball,” Jones said. “I had a knot in my stomach all the way up to game-time. I was just telling myself, ‘I need to make a play for the ballclub’ and just to get that knot out of my stomach.
“You drop a ball like that, it hurts. It hurts your team, especially in the playoffs. I was glad we won last week, because if I had to go to the off-season with that drop, you guys probably would have seen me on the news or something.”
Jones can thank Rodgers for sticking with him, but what he did to prove his worthiness was all effort.
On second and 10 at the 50 with Atlanta up, 14-7, with 11:11 to go, Jones caught a hitch along the right sideline and broke a tackle, rumbling 34 yards down to the Atlanta 16. Then with the Packers facing a first and 10 at the Atlanta 20 with 48 seconds left in the half, Jones got matched up one-on-one with cornerback Brent Grimes and basically outfought him for a ball either one could have had.
“We thought we could get Grimes to really bite on a hitch, but he played it well,” Jones said. “But we tell Aaron to give us a shot. We tell him, ‘We all didn’t get drafted because we got caught and got tackled.’ They looked at something on our film to see that we could make some of those type of plays.
“We pride ourselves on making some of those plays.”
The mini-Fridge: Tired of getting stopped on the goal-line, McCarthy went to a secret weapon against the Falcons.
A 340-pound weapon (give or take 10 or 15 pounds).
McCarthy lined up nose tackle B.J. Raji as one of the fullbacks in the inverted wishbone formation and had him lead block for sometimes fullback sometimes halfback John Kuhn. Together with fullback Quinn Johnson there was roughly 865 pounds of wishbone in the Packers backfield.
At the snap, Raji ran at right tackle Bryan Bulaga’s inside shoulder and met linebacker Mike Peterson in the hole. The 226-pound Peterson had no chance and Kuhn followed behind Raji for a 1-yard touchdown that made it 14-14.
“B.J. did a phenomenal job coming here and doing something he doesn’t normally do,” Kuhn said. “He got downhill on the linebacker and just munched him up. He opened up a big hole and it was easy to follow him.”
The play was put in last week with Raji in mind and the Packers’ defensive workhorse had no problem taking on another role.
“I was instructed to clear the hole and keep my feet running,” Raji said. “Lead the way for John Kuhn.”
Injury report: The Packers didn’t suffer any major injuries, but one to keep an eye on will be Raji’s head injury.
Raji was slow getting up off the turf after hitting his head on teammate Cullen Jenkins’ knee. He did not appear woozy or have trouble getting off the field.
Team physician Patrick McKenzie examined Raji on the bench and gave him the OK to return. As long as Raji doesn’t have any concussion symptoms the rest of the week, there won’t be any worries, but if he does, he’ll have to go through the concussion protocol.
Cornerback Pat Lee injured a hip and did not return to the game. Kuhn suffered a neck stinger and also did not return to the game.
Rodgers and Collins suffered from cramps. Collins went into the locker room and received an IV and then returned to the game.
Nothing special: The Packers stopped kicking off to returner Eric Weems after he set a postseason record with a 102-yard return for a touchdown.
Kicker Mason Crosby hit a nice kickoff 2 yards deep, but there was a gaping hole in the middle of the coverage unit, and Crosby stumbled as he tried to make a saving tackle on the play.
“Obviously, we’re disappointed,” Crosby said. “You never want to give up a return like that. The biggest thing was to go forward and make sure we did it right. We started hitting them short with a little hang time after that.”
Crosby was also disappointed he missed a 50-yard field goal that hit the left upright, just like his attempted game-winning kick at Washington. He said he thought he hit the ball well but it carried too far to the left at the end.
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Clay Matthews’ pain is opponents’ gain
By Jason Wilde, ESPNmilwaukee
~GREEN BAY – The pain in Clay Matthews’ shin is getting worse, which might explain why the Green Bay Packers star outside linebacker hasn’t been the pain in the neck for opposing quarterbacks that he was during the first half of the season.
Dom Capers: "I know he’s getting a lot of attention, and it’s coming from a wide variety of people. It comes with the territory. He just has to be relentless and it’ll come around. The reality is, other guys are seeing the benefits of having a guy like Clay Matthews as a teammate."
Matthews said Friday that he’s not sure when he first injured his shin, but it got bad enough in the week after the Packers’ Oct. 31 victory over the New York Jets that he hasn’t been able to fully participate in practice since. Coincidentally or not, Matthews recorded an NFL-leading 9.5 sacks through those first eight weeks – despite missing the team’s Oct. 17 loss to Miami after aggravating his troublesome hamstring – but has managed just two sacks since the victory over the Jets: One against Dallas on Nov. 7, and one when Minnesota quarterback Brett Favre slid short of the line of scrimmage in the Packers’ Nov. 21 triumph over the Vikings. He was shut out in the past two games.
Whether it’s the injury itself or the lack of practice time he’s getting – Matthews’ work has generally been limited to the jog-through portions of practice – Matthews disputes the notion that he hasn’t been as productive, even though he enters Sunday’s game against Detroit at Ford Field not leading the NFL in sacks. That’s the first time this season that he hasn’t been on top, having fallen a half-sack behind Miami’s Cameron Wake.
“I do wish I was practicing more. It’s a myth that you’re getting out of practice and, ‘Oh, he just shows up on game days.’ You want to be practicing,” Matthews said as he sat at his locker Friday. “In a sense, you are more fresh for the game in that you’re not beating yourself down, but you have to make sure you keep yourself sharp mentally and physically. I’d like to be out there, but at the same time, what’s smart right now is to try to have me as close to 100 percent as we can come Sunday.”
Against San Francisco last Sunday, Matthews came close to sacking quarterback Troy Smith twice. On one play, he beat running back Brian Westbrook and had his arms around Smith but the quarterback was able to get the ball to tight end Vernon Davis for a 25-yard gain; on the other, he was on the ground and had Smith around the ankles, only to see Smith dump the ball to running back Anthony Dixon for a 4-yard gain.
According to a breakdown done by blogger Al Bracco, Matthews rushed quarterback Troy Smith on 17 of San Francisco’s 25 passing plays last week, and on 10 of 17, Matthews was double-teamed in some form. And when he wasn’t double-teamed, the play-call was generally for a quick pass that got the ball out of Smith’s hand before Matthews would have a chance to get to him.
While Matthews has been shut out the last two games, the Packers as a team have registered six sacks: Three by defensive end Cullen Jenkins, two by outside linebacker Frank Zombo and one by nose tackle B.J. Raji.
“Some people may look at it like, ‘Oh, well, he’s hurt, so he’s not making plays.’ But you’ve got to look at the teams we’ve been playing and the concepts around getting pressure,” Matthews explained. “Last week was a different game from the simple fact that we knew we had this mobile quarterback, we were going to challenge him to beat us with his arm. That’s exactly what we did. We didn’t have to put too much pressure on him as far as bringing the house. I thought we did a fantastic job on our rushes when we had our opportunities.
“On those two (near-sacks), Vernon had a heck of a catch on one, and the other I don’t remember, I was on the ground holding on. But Jenks got two sacks, Zombo, B.J (got one each). There was pressure all around. We’re getting it done, and if it’s not me, it’s somebody else.”
Indeed, defensive coordinator Dom Capers, outside linebackers coach Kevin Greene and Zombo, Matthews’ running-mate on the opposite side, all swore that Matthews’ lack of sacks are the result of attention he’s getting from opponents, not from his injury or lack of practice reps.
“Everyone’s talking about Clay’s numbers being down, but he’s taking so much attention,” Zombo said. “That’s why a lot of us other guys are able to make some plays. Clay’s an animal and it’s going to take a few guys to block him.”
Greene pointed to Matthews’ back-to-back three-sack games to start the season, which made him a marked man.
“I can tell you this: With the name that he developed early in the year, when you game plan, you say, ‘OK, we cannot let this guy have an impact. So we’re going to put one, two, three guys on him,’” Greene said. “To get a sack, a lot of (stuff) has to line up. The moon has to come together. You need time to work your move, you hopefully don’t get held. I don’t see any dip in Clay’s play at all, whatsoever.
“I know he’s getting a lot of attention, and it’s coming from a wide variety of people. It comes with the territory. He just has to be relentless and it’ll come around. The reality is, other guys are seeing the benefits of having a guy like Clay Matthews as a teammate.”
That said, Capers did acknowledge that he wishes Matthews could practice more. But Capers said Matthews has the mental acuity to play well with limited work during the week, a la cornerback Charles Woodson, whose practice snaps have been limited all season because of a toe injury, age and the sprained ankle he suffered Wednesday in practice.
“Clay’s a bright guy, and I think he’s a lot like Charles in terms of being able to picture things and see ’em. He picks things up well,” Capers said. “But, there’s no question, he’s still a young player and not being able to go out and work on your skills and techniques every day, it’s going to affect you. Now, he’s a guy that I think because of a lot of the other things he has, (he) can go out and play at a high level for us. But, would he be just as sharp as he’d be if he was out there taking every one of those reps? Probably not.”
Matthews said he couldn’t pinpoint exactly when he injured his shin, but said it started to hurt against the Jets and has gotten worse ever since. He wouldn’t say exactly what the injury is but said it wouldn’t heal until after the season.
“It was constantly getting irritated and getting pain,” Matthews said. “It started earlier in the season, so I think the more it continued to get aggravated, it was to the point after that Jets game where I was coming out at practice and just noticeably not moving as well. So we took some time off and I was ready for the Dallas game and have been on that (limited practice) schedule ever since.”
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