ATLANTA (AP) — Matthew Slater is more than halfway to his father’s longevity as an NFL player. He doesn’t plan to equal it.The star special teamer of the New England Patriots just completed his 11th pro season Custom Greg Gaines Jersey , and he’s at his fifth Super Bowl, with two wins. In his dad Jackie’s 20-season NFL career, he made one Super Bowl — coincidentally, with the Rams in 1980 — and lost to Pittsburgh.“That’s a long time to do anything,” Matthew Slater said Tuesday. As for the New England kick coverage ace lasting so long, he added with a laugh: “Absolutely not.”Of course, when your team becomes a regular visitor to the Super Bowl, it lengthens the season by more than a month. No one in the NFL would want to pass on that, but in reality Slater has played nearly 12 seasons, making All-Pro in 2016 and being voted to seven Pro Bowls.Not bad for someone whose Hall of Fame father didn’t necessarily want Matthew to play football.“He felt that way for two reasons,” Matthew Slater says. “First, he didn’t want me to feel the pressure of living up to his name. He thought the expectations could be unfair.“He also wanted me to avoid injury. He knew the toll it takes on you physically.”Matthew and his brother played plenty of sports, and guess who usually was the coach. Yep, Jackie.“Sports have always been a big part of my life and have so many life lessons from being on a team Greg Gaines Los Angeles Rams Jerseys , and the disciplines of preparing to compete and how you compete, and having teammates around you. I thought they were good lessons to learn,” Jackie Slater said.“I discouraged them to play football. I didn’t think (Matthew) would be big enough to play football. I coached in basketball, soccer, track and field, even some flag football. I didn’t see football as something that he would excel. But when he played flag, he had good speed and he caught the ball and ran well.”Matthew kept improving in high school and grew, though not to Jackie’s offensive tackle measurements. Because Jackie was unfamiliar with the kind of skills his son possessed, he turned to teammates Ron Brown — a 1984 Olympic champion speedster, who played wideout and returned kicks — and outstanding cornerback LeRoy Irvin. Brown refined Matthew’s technique and speed, and Irvin worked with him on back-pedaling and breaks for receivers.“Things I was not familiar with,” says Jackie, who recalled watching Matthew leave everyone behind in a 100-meter race, only to have Brown say “he did everything wrong.“I knew I needed to get out of the way.”Not really. Matthew Los Angeles Rams Jerseys Stitched , now 33, credits pretty much everything he has achieved in football to his father, who entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2001.“He made every effort to be present,” the son says. “That’s what I appreciate the most: He was a father first. So many young kids … many black kids … I see they don’t have a presence like that.“Anytime I have success, certainly my dad is sharing in it. It all goes back to my dad; I wouldn’t be playing this game without him. It’s pretty unique, a son being able to do something his dad did. We are enjoying this ride together.”For sure. But on Sunday, well, Jackie admits to being a bit torn when the Rams — his team — take on the Patriots — Matthew’s team.You see, Jackie Slater still has plenty of millennium blue and new century gold running through his veins.“This is a win-win situation for me,” the elder Slater notes. “If my son loses, it’s not as if he hasn’t experienced the thrill of victory in a Super Bowl, something I never did. And if he loses, it hurts, but he has a great attitude about it. It helps me live with the defeats he has.“If the Rams win Greg Gaines Jersey nfl draft , I will be happy because I have been pulling for this team for more than 40 years. My first hero in the game was Tom Mack, who I actually played with for three years.“You know, he has an unbelievable opportunity to experience things I never did. I don’t know what it is like to win the Super Bowl beyond the joy my son had when he won on two occasions. That’s almost as good as me winning, I felt.” Evaluating a pass rushing unit by sacks is not an accurate way to properly display the effectiveness of a unit. With the help of more specific and in-depth statistics, let’s evaluate how the Los Angeles Rams’ pass rush is performing, where they might be lacking, and how they can improve.*All stats used via Pro Football Reference*Listed below are the main culprits when it comes to the pass rush unit. The numbers below will display how many pressures (includes hurries + knockdowns + sacks) they’ve accumulated, and where they rank in the league.DT Aaron Donald - 20 pressures (6th)EDGE Dante Fowler Jr. - 14 pressures (22nd)EDGE Clay Matthews - 13 pressures (25th)DT Michael Brockers - 11 pressures (39th)EDGE Samson Ebukam - 7 pressures (78th)Objectively speaking, the unit hasn’t performed terribly, but they aren’t exactly elite either. Donald operates in his own world, proving his dominance is no fluke as his consistency is nearly as impressive as his peaks.The interesting discussion starts on the outside at edge, where Fowler and Matthews have performed admirably as starters, with Ebukam rotating as the third edge rusher. Fowler’s 13 pressures are good for 22nd in the league, but he only has two sacks and three QB hits on the season Womens Greg Gaines Jersey , all of which came in Week 1 against the Carolina Panthers. His presence is felt, as his pressures have caused some havoc and discomfort for quarterbacks, though he’ll need to work on his ability to finish, as pressures aren’t always a positive result.Matthews falls on the opposite end of the spectrum from Fowler, because he doesn’t impact the passer nearly as much, though he’s converted his pressures into sacks at a high clip, as he has 13 pressures, six of which were sacks. Matthews hasn’t gotten pressure nearly as often as some of the others on a per-snap basis, but the objective is to sack the quarterback, so it’s hard to complain about the results. Still, even with the lack of a true pass rush presence (majority of Matthews’ sacks have been cleanups, unblocked, or coverage sacks), Matthews is a fantastic run-stuffing presence on the edge.Looking at the last starter of the unit Authentic Greg Gaines Jersey , Brockers has rebounded tremendously from a down year in 2018. Brockers ranks 39th in the league in pressures, which is a highly respectable amount considering his main objective is to stop the run. Brockers only has one sack on the season, though eight hurries and two QB knockdowns display just how effective he’s really been as a pass rusher. Like Fowler, Brockers could work on his ability to finish, though it really isn’t his forte as a 326-lb run stuffer.The pass rush lacks an elite edge presence, and outside of Donald, a truly consistent threat who can wreak havoc. Yet, it hasn’t really stopped them from performing well. Looking into the future, the Rams would be best served to look for a dominant presence to pair with Donald. The presence of Donald alone — and the way offensive lines regularly double and triple team him — allows the remainder of the defensive line to accumulate stats, which is why some of their productivity is skewed with certain instances like unblocked plays.For the remainder of this year, the Rams can only hope the defensive line continues this pace, with the potential to convert even more pressures into sacks.