GREEN BAY, Wis. — Clay Matthews’ groin injury, which kept him out of last Sunday’s game at Pittsburgh, afforded him the opportunity to spend more time around Aaron Rodgers.

And not just for another State Farm commercial.

The Green Bay Packers linebacker got an up-close look at the quarterback’s rehab from his broken collarbone and came away with this revelation: “I think we probably should have kept him off IR.”

That doesn’t mean Rodgers’ collarbone would be healed in time for him to play any earlier than Week 15 at Carolina — the earliest game he could play in, based on the injured reserve rules that state a player must sit out at least eight games before a team uses one of its two designated-to-return spots.

“The way he’s coming along, some of the balls he’s throwing, accuracy-wise, everything a quarterback has to do is pretty remarkable,” Matthews added.

Rodgers, who on Sunday at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh threw in public for the first time since he broke his right clavicle on Oct. 15, could return to practice by the end of this week. But the Packers have not made an announcement about whether that will happen. The earliest he could practice would be Friday — six weeks from the date he went on IR — but the Packers don’t practice on Fridays, so any return wouldn’t happen until Saturday.

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Julio Cesar bid farewell to his Benfica teammates Tuesday after it was revealed the Brazilian goalkeeper and the club terminated his contract by mutual consent.

The 38-year-old could hardly control his emotions, giving each player and member from the coaching staff a hug.

Cesar is also expected to announce his retirement, but the former Inter Milan goalkeeper has yet to confirm plans to hang up his boots.

Shortly after the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, Cesar signed on with the Portuguese outfit and went on to make over 50 appearances.

However, his workload has been drastically reduced over the last two seasons. The emergence of Ederson, who has since been sold to Manchester City, forced him into a back-up role. Meanwhile, starting chances this term have predominantly gone to Bruno Varela while teenager Mile Svilar has been given the nod in net during a pair of Champions League encounters.

Denver Broncos cornerback Aqib Talib and Oakland Raiders wide receiver Michael Crabtree each had their two-game suspensions reduced to one game, two days after they were ejected for fighting, the league announced.

Both players had their appeals heard Tuesday. James Thrash was the appeals officer for Talib, and Derrick Brooks was the appeals officer for Crabtree.

Denver president and general manager John Elway and head coach Vance Joseph took part in the appeal hearing for Talib.

“From our point of view, we thought Crabtree was the aggressor,” Elway said on Orange & Blue 760. “He was the one that started it. Obviously it’s not something we want in the game, and I understand it from the league’s perspective that they don’t want it in the league, but I just thought that for Aqib and for our team, I thought [he] did a pretty good job of handling the situation that really could have gotten way out of control. Even though it was a little bit out of control, it could have been a lot worse with the way things went about and Crabtree’s mentality.”

In his letter to Talib on Monday, NFL vice president of operations Jon Runyan referenced Talib ripping a chain off Crabtree’s neck, “aggressively” removing Crabtree’s helmet and throwing a punch, as well as the two players “reigniting” the fight for a second confrontation. Runyan added “such actions have no place in this game, engender ill will between teams, and lead to further confrontations.”

In his letter to Crabtree, Runyan cited the wide receiver for punching Broncos cornerback Chris Harris Jr. in the stomach on the play that preceded the fight with Talib and said Crabtree’s actions with Talib “triggered a melee and endangered various sideline and League personnel, including one of the Game Officials who was injured trying to maintain control of the situation.”

Talib, Crabtree and Raiders guard Gabe Jackson were ejected with 11 minutes, 47 seconds left in the first quarter. Talib and Crabtree were ejected for fighting, and Jackson was ejected for making contact with an official.

David Luiz’s apparently fractious relationship with Antonio Conte could trigger a winter move to Real Madrid for the Brazilian.

A slow start to the season from the back-to-back Champions League winner has increased the likelihood that Los Blancos manager Zinedine Zidane will enter the January transfer market, and The Telegraph’s Matt Law understands Chelsea’s Luiz is being sighted.

The centre-back is rumoured to have fallen out with Conte following both his reaction to being substituted in the 3-3 home draw with Roma in October, and his role in the 3-0 defeat in the reverse fixture at the end of that month. Luiz was believed to have trained alone after that embarrassing loss, and was dropped for the subsequent visit from Manchester United after allegedly questioning Conte’s tactics, reports Law. He followed that expulsion by being an unused substitute against West Bromwich Albion and Liverpool, either side of playing the full 90 minutes at Azerbaijani minnow Qarabag.

Conte revealed Luiz will miss Wednesday’s match against Swansea City, and was vague about how long the 30-year-old will be out with a knee issue.

“I must be honest, in this moment it’s very difficult for me to answer how long David Luiz will be out,” Conte said. “It will be up to the doctor to assess the situation very well and then to take the best decision for the player.”

Conte expressed concerns over the depth of his squad before the season began, but his backline seems to be one of the better stocked areas in his lineup. Gary Cahill, Cesar Azpilicueta, Andreas Christensen, Antonio Rudiger, and youth-team products Jake Clarke-Salter and Dujon Sterling are all able to slot into Conte’s back-three if Luiz leaves for the Santiago Bernabeu.

Luiz was surprisingly brought back to Chelsea by Conte in 2016 for around £34 million, and was arguably one of the most important players in the Blues’ successful bid for last season’s Premier League title.