Clay Matthews revitalizes Packers' D after move inside

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Clay Matthews spotted Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator Dom Capers entering the room and changed his answer in midsentence.

"No, I love Dom. Dom's a great coach," Matthews said, jokingly interrupting an interview with USA TODAY Sports on Thursday at Lambeau Field. "I mean – oh hey, Dom, what's up?"

Capers stopped on the stairs, grinned and pointed at his best defensive player.

"Hey," Capers said, "this guy knows how to do it, right?"

That's what Capers was banking on when he and coach Mike McCarthy approached Matthews – the four-time Pro Bowl outside linebacker – about moving inside in the team's nickel package for last week's game against the Chicago Bears in hopes of improving their woeful run defense.

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Despite limited practice work, Matthews responded with his best game this season in the Packers' 55-14 romp, matching a career high with 10 tackles and sacking Jay Cutler twice (including one was wiped out by an unnecessary roughness penalty) in relatively limited rush opportunities.

Eagles linebacker Casey Matthews told Philadelphia reporters Tuesday he didn't get the sense his older brother liked playing inside. But Clay Matthews was in a good enough mood Thursday to have some fun with the coach who put him there – and predict he'll be unpredictable from here.

"I'm playing all over this week," Matthews told USA TODAY Sports, perhaps only half-joking. "I'm playing left side, right side, middle left, back left – everywhere on this field.

"We'll see how it's dictated this week, because you've got to think that we've had some success last week with it. But at the same time, it's not an unscouted look anymore."

In other words, the element of surprise won't work again. And though Capers has rushed and dropped Matthews from pretty much every conceivable angle in his diverse scheme over the past 5½ seasons, there's a difference in doing something unfamiliar on the majority of downs.

In lieu of refined technique, Capers is banking on Matthews' intelligence and instincts, on top of his rare athleticism at 6-foot-3 and 255 pounds, to help him get by. The sack that counted Sunday came from Matthews' usual spot on the (right) edge in the dime defense. The one wiped by penalty came off a blitz from the left while in his new role.

"He's just a good all-around football player," Capers said. "If he'd been playing inside there from the first day, I think he'd have gone to the same number of Pro Bowls as he has outside."

If Matthews remains an inside linebacker in the nickel defense, he figures to be there a lot Sunday against an Eagles team that is in 11 personnel (three receivers) upwards of 60% of the time.

At minimum, Eagles coach Chip Kelly and his staff had to spend extra time figuring out how to account for Matthews in another spot – even if it ends up being just a speed bump for a high-octane Philadelphia offense that presents more problems at this point than the bumbling Bears.

"I think we've always strived for that," Matthews said. "We've talked about it for years, and it's easy to go from left to right linebacker. Offenses just know, 'Where do you slide the line to? Who's the mike?' It's not that difficult. …

"Now, when you go to a different position, you're dealing with guys in a different level of space and such. It does create some matchup problems.

"After one game, I know everyone wants to say we've found the answer and this and that. But let's see how this thing plays out."

Follow Tom Pelissero on Twitter @TomPelissero.