Clay Matthews said the NFL is "getting soft" after he was whistled for a third roughing-the-passer penalty this season.

The NFL expressed immediate support for the call in the latest instance of the controversial effort to protect quarterbacks this season.

"Unfortunately this league's going in a direction I think a lot of people don't like. I think they're getting soft," Matthews said. "The only thing hard about this league is the fines they levy down on guys like me who play the game hard."

Official Craig Wrolstad penalized Matthews for landing on Washington Redskins quarterback Alex Smith late in the third quarter of a 31-17 Packers loss at FedEx Field.

"Obviously when you're tackling a guy from the front you're gonna land on him," Matthews said. "I understand the spirit of the rule, I said that weeks prior. But when you have a hit like that, that's a football play.

"I even went up to Alex Smith after the game, asked him, 'What do you think? What can I do differently?' Because that's a football play."

There were an NFL-record 21 roughing-the-passer penalties through the first two weeks of the 2018 season. Matthews is the first NFL player since at least 2001 to be penalized three times for roughing the passer in the first three games of a season.

Aaron Rodgers is concerned his injured left knee will get worse as the season progresses.

"Yeah, obviously that's a concern," Rodgers said Wednesday. "Hopefully it goes the other way though."

Rodgers suffered the injury in Week 1 and wore a large brace in Week 2.

Rodgers admitted that his knee "obviously it won't be 100 percent, so I'll just adjust accordingly to how I'm feeling and try to get through."

"It just depends on how the week goes with the rehab and the recovery," Rodgers said. "Obviously, I'd love to be better than I was last week as far as health-wise but there's some factors that are out of my control."

Clay Matthews has been flagged twice for roughing-the-passer in the Green Bay Packers' first two games.

On Sunday, Matthews was flagged for a hit on Kirk Cousins, whose deep throw was picked off by Jaire Alexander -- a play that would have given Green Bay the ball back with 1 minute, 37 seconds on the clock and a 29-21 lead.

Instead, the Minnesota Vikings tied the game with 31 seconds left in regulation. The game would end in a tie.

"I have so many emotions running through as far as what a terrible call it was," Matthews said. "At the same time, I don't know what else to do. I don't know. You let me know. You tell me. Did I put pressure on him? I thought I hit him within his waist to chest, I got my head across, put my hands down. To call it at that point in the game is unbelievable.

"Last week, OK, shame on me. This week, that's unbelievable. The worst part is, we'll probably send it in and you know what they're going to say? They'll find fault on me because they're going to agree with the refs. I don't know. It's a difficult call to call.

"You see how it changed the game. I know there's an emphasis on protecting quarterbacks, but it's gotten out of control. I don't know what else to do. It's frustrating because Jaire's interception, that's game [over], right? Instead, they go down and score, overtime, this and that.

"We had opportunities to win the game, no doubt about it, but frustrating to allow a call which I feel like I did the right thing to influence the game. I don't know. I'm trying to bite my tongue, but I obviously don't agree with it."

Aaron Rodgers told the media he has a sprained knee and that it's been "pretty sore the last three days."

Rodgers was held out of practice on Wednesday.

"I want to play obviously," Rodgers said Wednesday. "Just taking it one day at a time. See how it feels tomorrow and see how it feels Friday, Saturday and hopefully ready to go Sunday."

The Green Bay Packers' game against the Minnesota Vikings is the most in-demand ticket in the NFL for Week 2 with an average ticket price of $361, according to data from TicketCity.

Top-5 Week 2 Games
1. Vikings at Packers: $361
2. Seahawks at Bears: $273
3. Raiders at Broncos: $268
4. Patriots at Jaguars: $252
5. Eagles at Buccaneers: $239

Aaron Rodgers briefly left Sunday night's game against the Chicago Bears with a knee injury.

He returned in the second half to lead the Green Bay Packers to a thrilling comeback victory and declared himself fine for Week 2.

"I'm playing next week," Rodgers told Michele Tafoya.

The Packers are set to face the Minnesota Vikings in their next game.

The Green Bay Packers are the team with the most expensive secondary ticket price for their road games, according to data from TicketCity.

Every single road game played by the Packers this season is the host team's most expensive home game of the season.

The New England Patriots, meanwhile, have the most expensive home ticket price. The average ticket price for Green Bay's game at the Patriots on November 4th is currently $989.63.

Aaron Rodgers has essentially tied the remainder of his career to the Packers and we'll see if he can get a second ring to truly reach the level of an all-time great.

Full List of Essential 50

50. Drew Brees

49. Larry Fitzgerald

48. DeForest Buckner

47. Adam Thielen

46. Eric Berry

45. Corey Davis

44. Ali Marpet

43. Sam Darnold

42. Golden Tate

41. Geno Atkins

40. Mitchell Trubisky

39. C.J. Mosley

38. Jameis Winston

37. Landon Collins

36. Vic Beasley Jr.

35. Ryan Tannehill

34. Amari Cooper 

33. Malcolm Jenkins

32. Christian McCaffrey

31. LeSean McCoy

30. Patrick Mahomes

29. Bradley Roby

28. Dalvin Cook

27. DeMarcus Lawrence

26. Russell Wilson

25. Cam Newton

24. Joey Bosa

23. Alex Smith

22. Alvin Kamara

21. Jadeveon Clowney

20. Jarvis Landry

19. David Johnson

18. Ezekiel Elliott 

17. Khalil Mack

16. Myles Garrett

15. Deshaun Watson

14. Carson Wentz

13. Todd Gurley

12. Rob Gronkowski

11. Jalen Ramsey

10. Aaron Rodgers

9. Earl Thomas

8. Aaron Donald

7. Odell Beckham Jr.

6. Ryan Shazier

5. Tom Brady

4. Julio Jones

3. Andrew Luck

2. Jimmy Garoppolo

1. Le'Veon Bell