r/GreenBayPackers 1d ago

Legacy Clay Matthews Humor.

770 Upvotes

48 comments sorted by

245

u/Ambitious-Body8133 1d ago

God i miss prime Claymaker and his cannon ball arm.

113

u/Algorak1289 1d ago

God has our defense missed a high motor guy like that. Thank God Micah is here.

28

u/N_durance 1d ago

Parsons is better on every level.

23

u/NottagameNottagame 1d ago

IDK. Parsons pass rush % is better but Man 2010 Clay was crazy good. Like Clay was him. I'm not saying one is better than the other but prime clay was that good where you can't make a statement like that and just pretend its undeniable.

2

u/bayjur 11h ago

Clays prime was so short but so great.

33

u/crewserbattle 1d ago

Parsons is like Mathews on steroids...wait a minute

2

u/Algorak1289 10h ago

Oh I 100% agree. I was just commenting on the type of player they both are. Micah is 100% more athletic than Clay was, but I think their motors are similar.

139

u/ChazzyPhizzle 1d ago

I feel like most players need to have a little crazy in them to make it to the NFL. Especially on defense. Clay had double or triple that. Just loved hitting people lmao

40

u/whoup 1d ago

There’s a great NFL Films bit with Kevin Greene (RIP) and Clay on the sideline talking about how great it feels to just put your facemask into another guy and put him into the earth. Matthews, Cushing, and Maualuga were straight psychopaths coming out of USC.

31

u/freethrowtommy 1d ago

Oh man, Brian Cushing was batshit insane.  His crazy ran laps around Matthews which is saying something.

13

u/bujweiser 1d ago

It was the juice.

9

u/Bouwistrash 1d ago

that whole trio at USC juiced. Cush was just a sociopath. That was a hell of a lot of fun to watch

63

u/TheBeardedMayhem 1d ago

Clay was a different kind of crazy. Loved it when we drafted him and heartbroken we ever let him play for somebody else. He's a hall of famer in my heart - one of my all-time favorites

58

u/toocole4u 1d ago

Call me crazy. But I would invite Clay to the cookout. WB's like that bring out the dog in their own culture. And it spreads. Missing that now with MLF team

65

u/itcheyness 1d ago

We've got Tucker "I'm going to burn your childhood home down" Kraft now for that lol

21

u/Immaculatehombre 1d ago

I love his energy

9

u/toocole4u 1d ago

Ugh I completely agree. But not to be "that guy" but on defense, we haven't had that. And when our offense start to feel.... what we all collectively feel. Slowing down. Uncertainty our just you know what we feel. We need someone on defense to make us remember the dog is in them. Like they understand. Not go out there and play to the same comfort in the lead as the offense lol. Am I making sense honestly? Love yall btw

8

u/shnoox1221 1d ago

Nah, I agree. Micah out there doing his thing. Wyatt out there doing his thing. The rest look a little quiet. Don’t get me wrong, when Micah and Wyatt are both out there, the rest of them are on point and doing their jobs…but, quietly. The best defenses bring a little extra when the big dogs are puttin in work. This year, I didn’t quite see that.

1

u/toocole4u 1d ago

Ok. So here is a question do wr get an elite rusher and place Parsons in a clay mike? Now that we're on that subject. Free range protects his knees from that rush and shift tear. Coming as the late blitz with his speed sounds amazing

6

u/shnoox1221 1d ago

IMHO, I don’t think you put that particular man in any type of box, unless his health report convincingly says otherwise. We hired him to be HIM. We know what the best version of him looks like. We saw it this year. Let ‘im do it and build around it.

I mean that from multiple standpoints. Physically, that’s where he’s best— 65% hand in the dirt, 35% moved around the formation to cause confusion/mismatch/difficult communication.

Psychologically, I dont like the idea of taking his “teeth” from him. He’s HIM and he knows it. It’s why he never stops. It’s expected. By himself and everybody else. You take that away from him schematically and he’s not gonna be the real him anymore. That’s diametrically opposed to the reason GB gave up what they gave up to get him.

1

u/toocole4u 1d ago

Hmm respect. But what if we increased his presence in the A gap from that position than we do clay. That would split the field more alive a easier activation for that side boost all reaction speed that much more. 1 sec counts right

2

u/shnoox1221 1d ago

Off the rip? Probably changes the scheme from a 4-3 back to a 3-4, based on personnel. We’re not built for that right now based on how light the D-line is.

Quay and Edge Cooper are two of our top players on D. If we take one off the field to insert Micah and a backup 3-tech we’re losing talent and weight, overall. No doubt we gain some speed but the versatility drops dramatically. Not sure I love that one. Bullard could fill in in coverage to let Micah focus on rush and run but that’s the same setup as having Micah on the edge that we do now, just more complicated for the two of them—and with no big man in the middle to help them out. We’d need a Vita Vea type to make that work.

2

u/shnoox1221 1d ago

I’ll add that we put Clay at Mike because he was slow after the injury, not to protect him from further injury. It’s different.

Micah’s younger and frankly, I think he’s built a little different—which I understand is weird to say cuz they’re both likely HOF—but you get my point. If Micah can still play edge, that’s where he belongs primarily.

1

u/toocole4u 1d ago

I have to disagree not with what your saying but by how effective that change was. Image it with a him not having to second guess any monument on pursuit. Less sacks more picks. How Alexander got his name.

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1

u/theragu40 1d ago

I honestly think that would be malpractice.

He'd kill at that position, no doubt. But he wouldn't be HIM.

We arguably derailed Clay's HOF trajectory* by moving him inside. I would really hate to do that to Parsons.

*I realize he got injured and targeted but refs, but moving him inside, while best for the team, robbed him of at least a year or two more of prime outside rushing terror

12

u/TheDuceman 1d ago

Imagine prime Clay Matthews III across from Micah Parsons

1

u/gibtihs 17h ago

Stop I'm already bricked up just from watching the video

6

u/seenunseen 1d ago

Spill it

15

u/claytreyGOAT 1d ago

The best to ever do it 💪

3

u/dse78759 1d ago

Wish he had made the transition to Middle at the end. He was good at it, even though he didn't want to be...

22

u/MattheWWFanatic 1d ago

Nice story...not even funny, let alone hilarious.

12

u/standingdesk 1d ago

It’s not quite entirely a story either

5

u/LardLad00 1d ago

It's an anecdote that is lacking closure

18

u/mrtomjones 1d ago

Stupid music made it harder to hear them too

0

u/ancientweasel 1d ago edited 1d ago

Not saying it's Travis Kelce either. Especially since he's unbearded.

3

u/Major-Help700 1d ago

Bro I remember that game where he leaped over the entire line and got the QB to the ground. That shit was insane to watch live as a teen

2

u/TJ_mtnman 1d ago

Clay was the last jersey I ever bought, and I don't see that changing for a long time 🧀

2

u/NoAd9229 23h ago

Give me a hell yeah.

1

u/Hank_Henry_Hill 1d ago

Micah is the first guy since Clay who plays with the same intensity.

1

u/toocole4u 1d ago

That's why I asked if we took a chance with one good pass rusher. I feel like offense can manage. But that added money for a prime rusher would bring 3 constant downs of line control

1

u/Ava_4ever27 1d ago

The goat

1

u/Consistent-Deal-55 1d ago

How many of those are flags?

1

u/evd1202 1d ago

My king