GREEN BAY — Clay Matthews wouldn't say Thursday whether or not he'd been fined by the National Football League for his late hit out of bounds on San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick last Sunday.

He also didn't want to talk about what 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh said about him being a dirty player.

But the Green Bay Packers star outside linebacker was willing to say one thing, and in the pantheon of soundbites in recent Packers history, it has to rank among the best.

"I'm an awesome player," Matthews told a large group of reporters gathered around his locker after Thursday's practice. "I'm not a dirty player."

The NFL generally doesn't confirm fines for players until Friday. Sometimes the information comes out sooner if a player, his agent or his team is willing to put it out there. In Matthews' case, the player wasn't interested. In fact, he wasn't interested in anything other than Sunday's game against the Washington Redskins, shouting "Next game!" at one point in the interview session.

Matthews had not spoken with reporters since after Sunday's 34-28 loss to the 49ers, when he admitted it wasn't a smart play and said he and Kaepernick interacted later in the game.

Matthews has only received one other fine for an on-field play, when in 2010 he was fined $5,000 for grabbing Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler by the facemask.

"I think my resume is pretty good right now," Matthews said Thursday. "I think we're doing all right."

The NFL fined the guy who pushed The Jets qb out of bounds, setting them up for a game winning FG.

Yet there has been no report of any fine for Clays hit.

That tells me that, though it was a bad move on Clay's part, after reviewing, The NFL, as most of us realized it was not "a clothesline" and not a dirty hit. Just a late hit on a QB who has faked going out of bounds in the past, only to cut up the filed for an extra 6-7 yds.

Friday's not over with, so there still might be some action taken, bu t it's usually reported by now.

That penalty was questionable if you ask me. Yes he hit him out of bounds, but I have yet to see someone who can stop mid-air. How can anyone be so upset about this - he was trying to make a play and prevent a first down. If not for him - Kaep would have gotten past the marker, maybe to the end zone.

I'm glad Clay doesn't want to make it an ongoing issue all season. I wish I had the will power to let it go - I am concerned about where this sport is headed. I guess we are supposed to let running QBs run all over the place til they decide they are done running. I have lost no respect for Clay over this.


I normally don't wish badly on anyone, but in this case I hope Kaepersh!t gets a career ending injury and Hairball has a heart attack.