Green Bay Packers linebacker Clay Matthews is on the road to recovery trying to come back from a groin injury that sidelined him for the Pittsburgh game. With being among the injured, Matthews got a first-hand look at how Aaron Rodgers was progressing with his broken collarbone. He could not have been more glowing of the star quarterback going as far as saying ‘We shouldn’t have put him on IR, that’s how good he looks.’ That comment might bother Packers fans, but remember, Clay is not a doctor.

First of all, it’s great to hear that Rodgers is coming along so well. It probably means if Green Bay has a shot at the playoffs in three weeks, Rodgers might have a legitimate shot at playing versus Carolina. But we have to remember that a collarbone injury takes time to heal. No matter how good Rodgers looks in the training session, they could get x-ray number one to see that it’s not fully healed meaning Packers have to wait longer. Those comments are encouraging by the Packers linebacker, but they really don’t mean much in the grand scheme of things. He doesn’t control the doctor’s office or the decision-making that goes into him heading to injured reserve.

If anything, the injured reserve designation helped Rodgers in a big way. He knows his target date that he’s shooting for and part of the reason why I think he’s working so hard. It’s not depressing him when he goes for an x-ray only to find out that he’s not quite ready. If you remember in 2013, Rodgers pushed and pushed to get back out there, yet Dr. Pat McKenzie kept him out until the very end of the year. The star quarterback did his best to avoid that this year by not taking a single x-ray until he needs to in a couple weeks.

Let’s save our takes for other things than Matthews playing doctor.

Charlie.