GREEN BAY, Wis. -- First, Clay Matthews tried an underhanded windmill followed by a finger point that looked like nothing more than an obligatory response. Later, he opted for the Dikembe Mutombo finger wag. Finally, Matthews clenched his right fist and pounded it vigorously into his chest once and then again.
This run-stopping thing is starting to excite the Green Bay Packers linebacker more and more each time.
His three reactions all came in the same game -- the Nov. 22 win over the Minnesota Vikings -- and all came after he stuffed All-Pro running back Adrian Peterson. The first and third times were 3-yard losses. The second was for no gain.
For Matthews, the tackle for loss is the new sack.
Once defined by how many times he dumped the quarterback -- which he always followed with his trademark double-biceps flex and Incredible Hulk pose -- now that he's spending most of his time at inside linebacker, he knows he has to learn to appreciate the TFLs as much as the sacks.
"I haven't come up with TFL celebration yet," Matthews said in an interview this week. "If I start getting quite a few in the games, then maybe I'll have to start of thinking of one."
Including his 4.5 sacks, Matthews has 12 tackles for loss this season, which is tied for 18th in the league.
"At outside linebacker, you may get blown out 42-0 but have three sacks, and personally you had a great game rushing the passer," Matthews said. "But inside linebacker is more of a team thing because usually your play directly reflects how the run game was, how the pass game was and you're involved a lot more than you were on the edge."
Yet it may not show up as much on his individual stat line.
His performance against Peterson, who managed just 45 yards on 13 carries, should go down as one of the greatest of his career even though the official box score showed just six tackles, no sacks and no quarterback hits.
Matthews conceded that he never imagined he'd have more tackles for loss against the run than he would sacks.
"I never thought I'd be switching to inside linebacker, either," he said a little more than one year after the move. "It's funny, you go from the outside linebacker position where you're expected to disrupt the quarterback and his rhythm -- whether that's hits, hurries, pressures -- to inside backer where those opportunities are few and far behind."
The Packers rank just 23rd against the run -- the same spot where they finished last season after rallying from dead last at the time of Matthews' position switch. But they're on the uptick.
In their past three games, including the win at Minnesota, they have allowed just 80 yards rushing per game. That's the NFL's ninth-best average in that stretch. In that same span, Matthews has 19 of his 86 tackles on the season, according to the stats compiled by the Packers coaching staff.
"I think he's embraced that role and takes pride in that aspect of the run defense," said Scott McCurley, who coaches the Packers' inside linebackers. "It's just different. On the edge before, he made TFLs but now that he's in front of that running back every time, he gets a chance to really track the ball and make plays."
But ask any Packers defensive player, and he's likely to tell you he'd rather have a sack than a TFL. It's still the play that gets the glory.
"Watch games -- a guy gets a TFL, and he won't even get mentioned," defensive tackle Mike Daniels said. "Sacks could be for less yardage lost than a TFL, and they'll show the replay five times. Sacks are important, but I think TFL's are really important."
Matthews might finally be in a position to agree with him.
"I think at first, I was like, 'Man I want my sacks,' because I've had them for so long," Matthews said. "But you look at the Minnesota game, where you give up forty-some yards rushing to A.P. and you go, shoot, I had two or three TFLs, which are just as good sacks. That's as good as a 3-yard sack. But people love the sacks a lot more.
And then Matthews paused and added, "Myself included."
Maybe that's changing. The proof will be in the celebrations.