(Was Matthews able to do more than he normally does? He was in pads today.)
Absolutely. Clay has done a lot more this week than he’s done in the past month or so. It was great to have him out there. I know he feels good about it. It was quality work, especially padded work on a Thursday. I had a chance to watch him exclusively today, and I thought he looked good.
(Any concern about Wells?)
I’m not concerned. Knowing Scott’s history. I think today would help him, just to back off. I look for Scott to probably go in tomorrow’s practice. That will be cleared tomorrow by the doctors. But I don’t have a very high concern level there.
(Where are you at outside linebacker with Zombo and Walden on the injury list?)
Zombo and Walden? Getting better, progressing through the week. Tomorrow we’ll see if they’ll be able to go in practice. That will be the decision made tomorrow. But they’re both getting better, so we’ll see what happens.
(Are the numbers there a bit of a concern?)
No concerns. We’ve been through this a lot this year. We’re just getting everybody ready to play. But both of those guys are doing a good job with the extra time in the training room, and both have positive outlooks.
(With Matthews, has that been a gradual improvement? You had said once you started playing more on grass, you were hopeful it would improve a little bit.)
The time frame that’s taken has definitely helped him, shutting him down during the course of the week, how his body responds after the game. So we feel that we’re at a point between the doctors and the feedback from Clay that we’re in a safe enough zone for him to practice in. He’s a young player. He needs it, just like everybody else.
(Do you use that field behind the Hutson Center, Nitschke Field for practice?)
Absolutely, we practiced on Nitschke today.
(Because you were inside at first. So you go out there …)
Nitschke Field is only conducive to certain periods that we’re able to practice. So we go out onto Nitschke for the team periods, because you only have so much grass out there. The rest of the practice structure you need the extra space that the Hutson Center has. We were outside today. The grass was green. It was awesome.
(So it’s soft and heated underneath?)
Awesome. Just like Lambeau. It’s in great shape.
