49ers coach Jim Harbaugh takes jab at Packers’ Clay Matthews slap on left tackle Joe Staley

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Jim Harbaugh offered a parting shot at Packers linebacker Clay Matthews: Slapping is not the tough-guy way.

Harbaugh says Matthews threw one punch and slapped 49ers left tackle Joe Staley when they tussled following Matthews’ late hit on quarterback Colin Kaepernick in the second quarter of San Francisco’s 34-28 season-opening win against Green Bay on Sunday.

Matthews promised leading up to the game that Green Bay would target Kaepernick after he ran for a quarterback-record 181 yards to beat the Packers in the playoffs eight months ago, and Matthews did just that. On the play, he threw his right arm around the lower part of Kaepernick’s neck.

Harbaugh says to Matthews, “If you’re going to go to the face, come with some knuckles, not an open slap.”

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Janie McCauley

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