[gallery columns="4" ids="1043360,1043361,1043362,1043363"]
"How the heck is it legal to have a giant club for a hand and play in an NFL game?!?" is probably what you were wondering when you saw the covering Green Bay Packers linebacker Clay Matthews has on his hand today as they take on the Philadelphia Eagles.
Matthews is playing in his first game back from suffering a broken thumb in week five and that bowling ball looking thing on his hand is meant as protection.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Philadelphia sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
According to Fox Sports' officiating guru, Mike Pereira, it's legal because there's some soft stuff around it.
Clay Matthews playing with a cast. Rules say he can as long as "it is covered by minimum 3/8" foam rubber or similar soft material.
— Mike Pereira (@MikePereira) November 10, 2013
Oh, cool. I'd like to hear what LeSean McCoy or DeSean Jackson have to say about getting clubbed with that thing.
Earlier in the week Matthews talked to Fox Sports Wisconsin about playing with a cast and it not being very fun.
News
"I've just got to get used to playing a little more with one hand and obviously being comfortable with throwing it in there," Matthews said.
And:
However, last season, Matthews watched as fellow outside linebacker Nick Perry tried to play with a cast on his injured left wrist.
"(Perry) says 'It sucks,' so that's probably the only similarity, and I would agree with that," Matthews said. "So, I don't know, I mean, it does suck, so I would echo that message, but I'll do the best I can with it."
The Eagles lead 10-3 at halftime of the ugly, ugly football game.
Some other notable tweets:
Does Clay Matthews hand morph into a gun like Mega Man?
— Estebomb (@Estebomb) November 10, 2013
The Internet provideth ... Clay Matthews' right hand pic.twitter.com/7G9mqU2h0f
— Eric Kay (@ekaycbs) November 10, 2013
Just give Clay Matthews two hammer-hand made of tape, forever, and fulfill my Mutant League Football fantasies at last.
— Spencer Hall (@edsbs) November 10, 2013