Julius Peppers - random thoughts and discussion

[Patler]

Meh, I could take him or leave him. The plays he takes off or gives up on really bother me, and I have a feeling those plays will become more frequent.

Still, his 23 plays of note (sacks, FF, PDef and int.) equaled Matthews in 2014, and exceeded Matthews totals in any other season.

Does he take off plays that matter, or is he conserving himself on plays when he knows he can't make a difference anyway? Do any of us really know the answer to that?

[Rutnstrut]

Still, his 23 plays of note (sacks, FF, PDef and int.) equaled Matthews in 2014, and exceeded Matthews totals in any other season.

Does he take off plays that matter, or is he conserving himself on plays when he knows he can't make a difference anyway? Do any of us really know the answer to that?

The argument that he's better than Mathews doesn't do much for me, I think Clay is over rated.

[Patler]

The argument that he's better than Mathews doesn't do much for me, I think Clay is over rated.

I wasn't arguing that he was better than Matthews, just pointing out that he supplied something the Packers don't have a lot of on defense, players who make so-called impact plays on a regular basis. From that respect, he was a significant improvement for the defense, but that is only a small part of a players value to the team.

The real question is, does he really "take plays off" in a manner that is detrimental to the team? I don't know the answer to that question, but it is difficult to believe that he does when he generates more impact plays than anyone else.