This week, Matthews becomes the next villain in the dirty play of defensive players. He gave San Francisco 49ers quarterback, Colin Kaepernick, a very hard tackle during their game last week. Matthews is a linebacker for the Green Bay Packers, and he has been known for delivering hard and dirty hits throughout his career. Matthews played for USC in college and was drafted by the Packers in 2009, making quarterbacks all over the league fear for him ever since.
In their week 1 game, the Packers and 49ers faced off in a complete grudge match. The game’s final score was 34-28 in favor of the 49ers. Fighting to become one of the top teams in the NFC again this year, both teams have a lot to prove. Matthews delivered a late hit to him on the sideline after Kaepernick was scrambling near the sideline. The play even resulted in a fight between the two teams on the sideline, causing 49ers tackle Joe Staley to be penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct. After the game, Matthews conceded that it was not a smart play, although with only one other game of being fined, he feels that he still has a pretty clean record, states ESPN.
The fine was issued on Friday, but the day before it was announced Matthews was asked to comment on the play. He was not willing to discuss the play and simply said “I’m an awesome player, not a dirty one.” He was previously fined $5,000 for a facemask penalty that was issued to him after hitting Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler in 2010.
#clay matthews #greenbay fudge packer, should have been tossed from that game. He could have really hurt Kapernack the 49'rs QB.
— Michael Weber (@mwebman) September 9, 2013
Jim Harbaugh: Clay Matthews took ‘cheap shot’ at Kap http://t.co/rtPodHGprc #football #49ersgame #cheap #clay
— NextSports (@NextSports) September 10, 2013
Matthews’ fullback teammate Matt Kuhn also defended him by saying “Clay’s not a dirty player. I think most people know that. We want him to play aggressive.” He also insisted that defenders have to be aggressive with a quarterback like Kaepernick who runs with the football, according to CBS Milwaukee.
The whole game turned out to be very aggressive, issuing fines to other players as well, including 49ers linebacker Ahmad Brooks who was fined $12,750 for a hit on Aaron Rodgers and 49ers receiver Anquan Boldin was fined $7,875 for a late hit on Jarret Bush. With both of these coming from 49ers players, maybe they were simply retaliating out of frustration for the aggression that was given to their quarterback.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pr8hIzNefk
This week, the Packers host the Washington Redskins and the 49ers have another tough match ahead against Russell Wilson and the Seattle Seahawks.
Image via Youtube