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Primary Mark<br />
VETERANS<br />
COMMUNITY<br />
ADMIN. &<br />
COACHES<br />
CLIFTON<br />
LAMBEAU RECORDS &<br />
DRAFT &<br />
MISC. FIELD HISTORY 2008 REVIEW FREE AGENTS<br />
As steady as they<br />
<strong>com</strong>e protecting the<br />
quarterback’s blind<br />
side, Clifton continues to provide a solid presence at<br />
the left tackle position…Has blocked for four of the top<br />
seven single-season rushers in franchise history (Ahman<br />
PRO<br />
career<br />
Green, 2001-03; Ryan Grant; 2008), and<br />
has helped pave the way for a 1,000-<br />
yard rusher in seven of his nine seasons<br />
in Green Bay…Has been a part of top-<br />
10 offenses in the league in six of his nine seasons in<br />
Green Bay…Following the devastating pelvic injury that<br />
prematurely ended his 2002 season, he has successfully<br />
returned to the field to start 94 of 96 games (99 of 101<br />
including playoffs) over the past six years…Coming off<br />
arthroscopic surgery on both knees this offseason…Entering<br />
his 10th season, has played in 131 career games,<br />
with 126 starts (plus seven postseason contests)…Since<br />
he and tackle Mark Tauscher became Green Bay’s starters<br />
in 2000, helped the Packers allow the second-fewest<br />
sacks in the league from 2000-08 (203), behind only the<br />
172 of the Indianapolis Colts…Is known for his textbook<br />
technique and an extensive regimen that gets his bumped<br />
and bruised body ready for gameday…Started 15 games<br />
last season; had 33-game starting streak snapped in Week<br />
9 at Tennessee when he did not play due to pre-game illness<br />
caused by a reaction to medication…Helped block<br />
for QB Aaron Rodgers on his way to 4,038 passing yards<br />
and Grant on his way to 1,203 rushing yards, the first time<br />
in franchise history that the Packers had a 4,000-yard<br />
passer and 1,200-yard rusher in the same season…Was<br />
rewarded with his first Pro Bowl trip following the 2007<br />
season…Marked the third time he was selected as a Pro<br />
Bowl alternate (2004 and 2005 were the others), went to<br />
the game this time as an injury replacement for Seattle’s<br />
Walter Jones (shoulder)…Requiring little to no assistance<br />
from tight ends or running backs as extra blockers, has<br />
made a career of keeping the opponent’s premier pass<br />
rusher quiet, holding the New York Giants’ Osi Umenyiora,<br />
San Diego’s Shawne Merriman and Kansas City’s Jared Allen<br />
(the league leader in sacks) to a total of ½ sack in ’07<br />
and helping the Packers tie for the third-fewest sacks allowed<br />
in the league with 19…Adapted well to the Packers’<br />
new zone-blocking run scheme in 2006, showing nimble<br />
athletic ability for a frame his size…Along with Tauscher,<br />
stepped into more of a leadership position along the offensive<br />
line in 2005 with the offseason departures of guards<br />
Marco Rivera and Mike Wahle…Had a starting streak of<br />
53 consecutive games (56 including playoffs) snapped in<br />
2006 when he became violently ill with the flu the night<br />
before the contest at Miami (Oct. 22).<br />
R<br />
CHAD<br />
CLIFTON<br />
TACKLE<br />
TENNESSEE<br />
PRO BOWLS: 1<br />
2007<br />
arely leaves the field at all, he was in for 88.5 percent<br />
of Green Bay’s offensive snaps last season,<br />
93.3 percent in 2007, 93.1 percent in 2006 and 94.2<br />
percent in 2005 after being the only Packers player (on<br />
either offense or defense) to have played every snap from<br />
scrimmage on his respective side of the ball in both the<br />
2003 and 2004 seasons…Was rewarded with a six-year<br />
contract extension, through the 2009 season, on March<br />
100 25<br />
Ht: 6-5 Wt: 320<br />
10th <strong>NFL</strong> Season<br />
10th Packers Season<br />
Born: June 26, 1976<br />
<strong>NFL</strong> Gm. Played/Started: 131/126<br />
Acquired: D2-00<br />
►►Has blocked for four of the top<br />
seven single-season rushers in<br />
franchise history (Ahman Green,<br />
2001-03; Ryan Grant; 2008),<br />
and has helped pave the way for<br />
a 1,000-yard rusher in seven of<br />
his nine seasons in Green Bay.<br />
►►Has started 94 of 96 games at a glance…<br />
(99 of 101 including playoffs) at<br />
left tackle since returning to the field in ’03 from the serious<br />
pelvic injury that ended his 2002 season.<br />
►►Went to his first Pro Bowl following 2007 season, filling in<br />
for an injured Walter Jones of Seattle. Held New York Giants’<br />
Osi Umenyiora, San Diego’s Shawne Merriman and Kansas<br />
City’s Jared Allen to a total of ½ sack in head-to-head meetings<br />
that season.<br />
►►Had 53-game starting streak snapped in 2006 by a bout<br />
with the flu the night before and morning of game at Miami<br />
(Oct. 22), and 33-game streak ended in ’08 at Tennessee<br />
(Nov. 2) because of a pre-game illness due to a reaction to<br />
medication.<br />
►►Since he became a starter midway through his rookie year of<br />
2000, Green Bay has allowed the second-fewest sacks in the<br />
<strong>NFL</strong> (203), behind only the 172 of the Indianapolis Colts.<br />
►►As the left tackle, was a major factor in the Packers limiting<br />
opponents to an all-time franchise-low 14 sacks in 2004.<br />
Green Bay also did not allow a sack in eight games – another<br />
club single-season record.<br />
►►Played a pivotal role – by shutting out Pro Bowl DE Simeon<br />
Rice – when Green Bay snapped the Buccaneers’ 69-game<br />
streak with at least one sack in a 20-13 triumph at Tampa<br />
Bay, Nov. 16, 2003. Ironically, that game marked his return<br />
to Raymond James Stadium, where he had incurred his<br />
season-ending pelvic injury roughly a year earlier.<br />
►►Played in two national championship games, including Fiesta<br />
Bowl victory over Florida State to culminate undefeated 1998<br />
season, while a four-year starter at the University of Tennessee.<br />
2, 2004, he certainly showed no signs of <strong>com</strong>placency<br />
the following year, helping the Packers to an all-time franchise-low<br />
14 sacks during the ’04 season…A year earlier,<br />
in his 2003 return to the field following an arduous offseason<br />
of rehabilitation, started all 16 games for the first<br />
time as a professional and, as the left tackle, was a key<br />
cog in Green Bay allowing but 19 sacks – tied for the second<br />
fewest in the <strong>NFL</strong> and at the time the franchise low<br />
for a 16-game season…Included in that success was the<br />
Packers’ Nov. 16, 2003, win at Tampa Bay – a game with<br />
tremendous personal ramifications for him – when Green<br />
Bay snapped the Buccaneers’ <strong>NFL</strong>-record streak of 69 consecutive<br />
games with at least one sack…Just less than a<br />
year earlier (Nov. 24, 2002), on the same Raymond James<br />
Stadium field, his season had <strong>com</strong>e to an untimely end<br />
when he suffered a badly sprained pelvis as the result of an<br />
unnecessary block on an interception return that he did not<br />
see <strong>com</strong>ing (a play that the <strong>NFL</strong> made illegal in 2005)…<br />
Subsequently designated as Green Bay’s ‘franchise’ player<br />
Feb. 24, 2004, he reached agreement with the Packers on<br />
his contract extension on the eve of free agency…Earlier,<br />
in 2001, was a large factor in Green Bay allowing the thirdfewest<br />
sacks in the league (22), a figure that then also
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