Green Bay Packers outside linebacker Clay Matthews, who’s missed the last three games with a broken thumb, is getting the pins out of his hand on Monday. He should return the following week against Philadelphia and he confirmed on Wednesday that he’ll be playing with a club on his hand.

That will probably limit some of Matthews’ ability to go after the ball, but shouldn’t limit him as far as rushing the passer.

Interestingly, if Matthews had his way, he said he would have kept playing after the injury.

“I’m just a tough son of a bitch; pardon my language,” Matthews said. “When you break a bone in your hand, especially with the adrenaline running, you don’t really feel it until afterwards when the pain kicks in. But pain is not an issue as far as playing through it. I’ve played through a number of injuries. I’ve got a great pain threshold. “It’s about being smart and what I’m capable of doing — at this position, too, it’s difficult with one hand.”

The good news is, the Packers haven’t missed much with Matthews out. They’ve had 11 sacks in the three games he’s missed.

That’s not to say having Matthews back won’t help the defense. He’s a guy the opposition has to game plan for whether he’s 100 percent or not.

And of course, there’s a funny part to this story — Matthews has had to learn to jerk off with his left hand.

“There are a lot of things that I did with my right hand that I now have to do with my left hand,” Matthews said. “I’ll leave it up to the imagination.”