This weekโs Sports Illustrated is the annual NFL preview issue, which hits newsstands tomorrow. They have six regional covers and Clay Matthews is on one of them.
Itโs a vital downfield weapon when the corners are smothering Green Bayโs wideoutsโand even when theyโre not. But the tight end was barely a footnote in McCarthyโs playbook during last seasonโs Super Bowl run because he was without emerging star Jermichael Finley, who suffered a season-ending torn meniscus in his right knee on the second play of a Week 5 loss at Washington.
In four postseason victories, during which Green Bay averaged 30.3 points, Aaron Rodgers threw for 1,094 yards. Only 54 of those were to a tight end.
Now weโll find out how good the Pack attack can really be. Green Bay placed 15 players on injured reserve in 2010, but it
was the loss of Finley, a 6′ 5″ bundle of energy, that was most prominent for the offense.
Focusing primarily on wideouts Greg Jennings and Jordy Nelson, Rodgers went 11โ4 with Finley sidelined, completing 65.6% of his throws for 4,076 yards, 29 touchdowns and just eight interceptions to rise to the top of the football world. So itโs safe to say the QB compensatedโnot that he was happy about it.
Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net, an official Google News site that generates millions of unique visitors. Heโs also a regular contributor to Chicago Now, Walter Football.com, Yardbarker, and Fox Sportsย
He does regular weekly radio spots in Chicago and Cleveland and has appeared on live shows all across the world from Houston to New Zealand. You can follow him on Twitter