Matthews has no tackles in 2nd straight game

Clay Matthews was held without a tackle in consecutive games for the first time in his career the past two weeks, but Packers defensive coordinator Dom Capers said his Pro Bowl inside linebacker is still making an impact.

It’s rare for Matthews to be shut out of the stat sheet in a game. He’s been held without a tackle in just five games throughout his seven-year career, including Sunday. Matthews played his 100th regular-season game at the Arizona Cardinals.

As a full-time inside linebacker, Matthews' role this season has been different than any other. His 5½ sacks would be the fewest in his career, but he has been more of a complete player in 2015. He was on pace to easily surpass his previous career high of 71 tackles in a season, but he's been stuck on 63 for the past two games.

“With a guy like Clay,” Capers said, “he’s going to be asked to do a number of different things. He’s probably going to be dropping into coverage more than he is rushing in those situations. That was the case (Sunday). We used him a lot of different ways. He rushed some, but he probably dropped more.”

Matthews only dropped into coverage on eight snaps against the Cardinals, according to Pro Football Focus’ count. It was the fewest coverage snaps he’s had this season, though his 49 overall snaps were also a season low.

He was attributed a quarterback hit against the Cardinals, something he didn’t do the previous week against the Oakland Raiders.

rwood@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @ByRyanWood