Jadeveon Clowney doesn’t want to talk Carson Wentz, but sure does talk Aaron Rodgers
Jadeveon Clowney doesn’t want to talk about Carson Wentz and the hit that knocked the Eagles’ quarterback out of the Seahawks’ playoff win.
Seattle’s top pass rusher is more than happy to talk about chasing after Aaron Rodgers on Sunday in the NFC divisional playoff game at Green Bay, though.
He should. It’s the key to the Seahawks’ defense getting to the conference title game next week.
What does three-time Pro Bowl defensive end make of all the ruckus that he should have been penalized if not ejected for his hit with his helmet on the back of Wentz’s helmet at the end of a scramble play early in Seattle’s 17-9 win at Philadelphia last weekend?
“We’re still playing,” Clowney said Thursday. “I’m past that. I’m on to Green Bay. Looking forward to this game.”
Asked if the NFL has informed him of any fine or punishment for his play on Wentz on the Eagles’ second drive, a hit that knocked the $128 million quarterback out of the wild-card playoff game with a head injury, Clowney shook his head side to side.
Then he flashed a flat look and said: “Past it.”
On to Rodgers and the Packers.
Clowney, who turns 27 next month, has played in 75 regular-season games and four more playoff ones in the NFL. He’s never played against Rodgers. When Clowney was playing for Houston from 2014 until his trade to Seattle Sept. 1 he was out injured when the Texans played Rodgers and the Packers.
Yet Clowney’s been around the league long enough to know getting to the two-time NFL most valuable player and making him throw the ball sooner than he wants to is Seattle’s best way to win Sunday.
The Seahawks got to Wentz and fill-in Josh McCown for seven sacks in holding Philadelphia without a touchdown last weekend. Clowney was the force behind that pressure—as he’s been almost every game Seattle’s intermittent pass rush has sparked this season.
Wentz and McCown are nowhere near Rodgers’ skill at extending plays and getting passes off from all angles and pass rushers.
“We’ve got to do that every week—especially this week. We’re going to try to apply pressure on Aaron Rodgers,” Clowney said. “They’ve got a great front. We are going to try to get pressure on him. And hopefully get the ball some.”
Green Bay (13-3) has won five straight games and earned the second seed and first-round bye after its 37-8 loss at San Francisco Nov. 24. The 49ers sacked Rodgers five times in that game.
The Packers’ loss before that was 27-11 at the Los Angeles Chargers, whose defensive coordinator is former Seahawks assistant Gus Bradley. Bradley’s guys sacked Rodgers three times that day. (Think Seahawks coach Pete Carroll might have already called Bradley about that game this week?)
And when the Packers struggled to beat lowly Washington at home last month, 20-15, Washington sacked Rodgers four times.
“I’ve been watching their game, them against the 49ers. The losses that they did take, it was all because of the pressure, applying as much pressure and get off (the field on) third downs,” Clowney said of Rodgers and the Packers.
“I think it’s going to be the same thing for us. We’ve got to get pressure, and get off on third downs.”
Clowney has been playing since dominating San Francisco Nov. 11 with a core-muscle injury that likely will require surgery after this season, the last of his contract. He got a specialist in Philadelphia to hold off on surgery so he could play for Seattle in this postseason.
He missed three of the last five regular-season games. Sunday will be his first time playing three consecutive games since he got hurt. The pain, he says, really never goes away during or between games, and intensifies when he turns, reaches, jumps or lunges.
He says he feels “about the same” as he did this time last week. He is practicing this week. He didn’t last week, then played 85 percent of the snaps at Philadelphia and was a large reason why Seattle won.
He says he intends to play that much or more Sunday against the Packers.
“Don’t try to limit me,” is what Clowney said he’s told coaches and trainers. “If I’m up (active and dressed to play), I’m up. If I’m dressing I’m up. I’m not no halfway I’m. I’m all the way up.
“I put it on myself that if I’m dressed out.”
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This story was originally published January 9, 2020 at 3:03 PM.
