Not only did Peppers have the sack against the Giants, he also had another quarterback hit and deflected two passes. I can't say enough about Julius Peppers." "I can't recall someone, particularly at that position, that played the way he's playing ," McCarthy said. Meanwhile, coach Mike McCarthy began to give Peppers days off from practice in an effort to preserve his legs. Injuries to Clay Matthews forced defensive coordinator Dom Capers to expand Peppers' role, and he started to contribute once again. Yet Peppers said at the time, "I know I can make plays." And sure enough, he did. While playing a reduced role, he had only 3.5 sacks in his first nine games. So good that his former college coach Matt Doherty once said he thinks Peppers could have played in the NBA.Įarly this season, it appeared Peppers' best days might have been behind him. "A lot of people say he's a good basketball player." "I didn't know he went to North Carolina," Clark said. The rookie defensive tackle also had no idea at the time that Peppers also played basketball at North Carolina. Peppers already had a three-sack game by the time Clark turned 7 on Oct. I was probably really young when he was playing for the Panthers."Ĭlark, one of the youngest players in last year's draft, was 6 years old when Peppers broke into the NFL with the Panthers. "When I remember Julius growing up, he was playing for the Bears. "Honestly, I don't remember that he was playing for the Panthers at first," Clark said. Eighty-one of his career regular-season sacks came with the Panthers, which was news to Packers rookie Kenny Clark when he first met Peppers. Peppers moved into fifth on the NFL's career sack list last month. He has another 4.5 sacks in the five playoff games he's played in for the Packers. Peppers can count 25 of his 143.5 career regular-season sacks during his three years in Green Bay. With that sack, Peppers' season total reached 8.5, second on the team to Nick Perry's career-high 11, and gave him five sacks in his last eight games. It was on display again Sunday, when the Green Bay Packers' pass-rush specialist sacked Eli Manning to force a punt in the second quarter of the NFC wild-card game, and it could be critical again this week in the divisional round against the Dallas Cowboys. That it's necessary to say Peppers' age whenever he's referenced speaks to the surprise that most have when they discuss his performance this season, especially of late. His full name is Julius Frazier Peppers, but the way people talk about the 15-year NFL veteran, you'd think it's actually "36-year-old Julius Peppers." '36-year-old Julius Peppers' still going strong as Packers head to Dallas You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browser
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