It is nearly impossible for Jake Matthews to take a single significant step in his football life and not trip over family.
That certainly will be the case this weekend when his Hall of Fame father and as many as nine others on his branch of the Matthews tree come to town and bunk at Jake’s place before Sunday’s NFC Championship game.
The most immediate family connection in Sunday’s Falcons-Green Bay game will be the head-to-head between left tackle Jake and his cousin, Packers linebacker Clay Matthews. It will be their second on-field meeting since Jake was drafted first by the Falcons in 2014 (Clay was out with a hamstring injury during the 2016 regular-season game between the teams).
“I guess the first one was not good because we lost,” Jake recalled of a Monday night 43-37 loss to Green Bay his rookie season. There’s even video evidence of Clay ducking inside his cousin on the way to a sack.
“It was fun, kind of surreal going against him. A cool challenge.”
And, now, when the stakes include an invitation to the Super Bowl? “I know it’s going to be a challenge for me. I’m excited about it, looking forward to it. And I’m confident,” he said.
Beyond that, consider this other footnote from the Matthews family scrapbook. As Jake plays the final game inside the doomed Georgia Dome, he will be closing out a place where his father, lineman Bruce Matthews, played the biggest of his 311 regular-season and postseason games.
That would be his one and only Super Bowl — Jan. 30, 2000 when Matthews’ Tennessee Titans lost 23-16 to St. Louis. Nearly 9, little Jake Matthews was on-site, never daring to dream that one day he would lay some of the last licks ever in the same building.
“When I got drafted here, I thought how cool it was that I remember coming here to watch games,” Jake said. “It’s the last game for the Dome. No better way than to win and head to the Super Bowl and finish the Dome off strong.”
Resuming his stroll down Memory Avenue, Jake added, “I definitely remember there was a big ice freeze a couple days before the game (so did the NFL — for a long time). I remember being really cold. I especially remember the last drive of the game being pretty exciting to watch. Every time we watch replays of it, I still think the Titans are going to go in there and win it, but it didn’t turn out that way.”
And the noise in that one, as the Titans drove and finished an arm’s length from a potential tying touchdown, didn’t match the racket of last week when the Falcons took out Seattle in the divisional round. That according to one well-placed source. “That Seattle game was awesome. I never heard it that loud in there,” Bruce Matthews said.
Dad is just a little fired up about the coming conference championship.
It took him 17 professional seasons to get to a conference championship game. His son just made it in his third. “He kind of gave me a hard time about that. He’s a little jealous,” Jake said through a smile.
Bruce has taken up the mantle of family historian, having come out with a book, “Inside the NFL’s First Family: My Life of Football, Faith and Fatherhood.” That NFL history begins with Clay Matthews Sr., who spawned Bruce and linebacker Clay, who in turn begat four boys with professional ties. Sunday adds a whole other chapter. “This furthers the story a little more,” he said.
Bruce and his brother Clay played against each other 23 times, including once in the postseason, in 1988 when Bruce’s Houston Oilers beat Clay’s Cleveland Browns.
“The Matthews Bowl” they took to calling these collisions. And they came to cherish each one of them even as they came into direct contact, as Sunday their sons will, too.
As cousins rather than brothers, Jake and Clay III still share powerful family bonds. The age difference — Clay is six years older — came into play during early family gatherings, but that gradually diminished during subsequent snowboarding and hunting trips.
Clay and his flowing tresses were established in the NFL by the time the Falcons drafted his cousin — Jake was a Texas A&M freshman in 2010 when Clay won NFL Defensive Player of the Year.
Injuries and time have chipped away at Clay’s effectiveness. Defense is known to be the Packers’ greatest vulnerability. But there is no way to overlook the fact that Clay has the most sacks (11) in Packers playoff history, a number that puts him in the top five all-time in the NFL.
Neither father nor son discount the possibility of a little extra video work when dad gets to town. “We do that every now and then. I’ve always told people he’s like a second coach to me,” Jake said.
Dad is sure to point out one essential element to blocking Clay III. “He’s a high-energy player,” Bruce said of his nephew. “He’s never out of the play. You’ve got to finish against him. Don’t think he’s blocked, don’t think he’s out of the play. He’s great on the hustle plays.”
These are high-stress times for the family. But seeing how the market continues to be flooded with Matthewses, it lends a certain comfort to Sunday.
“At least one Matthews is going to make it to the Super Bowl,” Bruce said.
Brief pause. “Hopefully it’s Jake.”
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