GREEN BAY, Wis. -- The debate isn't just where to play Clay Matthews but if the Green Bay Packers should play him at all right now.

It appears coach Mike McCarthy and defensive coordinator Dom Capers believe a one-armed Matthews is better than no Matthews at all. In fact, they're likely to continue to his dual role of inside linebacker and outside linebacker this Sunday against the Seattle Seahawks.

After watching Matthews play mostly with his left arm rendered ineffective because of the separated AC joint in his shoulder on what he deemed a cheap shot by Philadelphia Eagles lineman Allen Barbre, it's worth wondering if the Pro Bowl linebacker can be effective regardless of where he lines up.

Matthews played 29 of 66 defensive snaps in this past Sunday's win over the Houston Texans, but nothing he did showed up on the stat sheet. No tackles. No quarterback hits. And certainly no sacks. Capers used him mostly as a situational pass-rusher on third down but also gave Matthews a few snaps at inside linebacker on the early downs.

Clay Matthews wasn't able to make much of a statistical impact Sunday against the Texans. Mike Roemer/AP

"Clay's in two or three different spots, and that's not easy," Capers said. "It's not easy if you're healthy but it's even tougher if you're fighting your way through an injury."

Given the injury situation with Jake Ryan (ankle) and Blake Martinez (knee) at inside linebacker plus Nick Perry (hand) at outside linebackers, Capers would like to keep riding Matthews for all he has so long as he's still effective.

"I think he can be," Capers said. "I'm hoping that we'll see more progress this week. Clay's a good football player, and you'd like to have your good football players available. Hopefully he's better heading into this game this week than he was [Sunday], but he was out there trying to give us everything he had."

Like Matthews, Ryan and Perry tried to play through their injuries. Ryan came back after missing two games, while Perry was injured in the first half against the Texans. He tried to play in the second half with a large cast on his left hand but didn't last long.

Matthews said he was surprised at just how much his shoulder limited him against the Texans. A week earlier, he took a pain-killing injection to return after the hit against the Eagles.

"I was excited by the improvement that it was making, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't expect it to be that painful, not operative," Matthews said after the Texans game. "So I was a little disappointed in that. It was tough out there kind of rushing and playing with one arm. Any impact to it was pretty painful. But no worse for the wear if I'm trying to be an optimist here. Hopefully next week, it's that much better. But for the most part I was in a little bit of pain."

McCarthy credited Matthews for playing through the pain.

"I think it says volumes about him," McCarthy said. "So hopefully he can get some strength and work through it, and hopefully he's further ahead than where he was [Sunday] because, obviously, he was playing through a very tough situation."

It's been a difficult season for Matthews, who missed four games (including three in a row) because of a recurring hamstring injury. He injured his shoulder in his first game back after missing the three straight.

There doesn't appear to be any serious thought being given to holding Matthews out, not with another critical game coming Sunday against the Seahawks.

"Well, I think it really talks about where we’re at as a team," Matthews said. "Injuries are an unfortunate part of it, but we've got guys coming back, coming off injury, and battling through it. But with where we're at, every game's a must-win, starting from last week so fortunate to get this win [against Houston], especially in such conditions. But on to Seattle."