GREEN BAY, Wis. -- There are a couple of ways to look at Nick Perry's two-sack performance last week in his return from his broken hand: His sacks came in garbage time of a blowout, or it was a sign that the Green Bay Packers have one of their most effective pass-rushers back on his game despite playing with a giant cast on his left hand.

Perry, however, offered a third viewpoint.

“They were playing with backup guys, backup tackles; you’re supposed to win,” Perry said. “Those are players you’re supposed to take advantage of. Regardless of whether I had one arm or not, I felt like I was good enough to make plays out there.”

Whatever the reason, the Packers feel better about their defense with Perry and Clay Matthews back on the field. They combined for three sacks in last Saturday’s win over the Minnesota Vikings. Matthews had a strip-sack for his first big play since he separated his left shoulder on Nov. 28 against the Eagles, and Perry returned for the first time since he broke his left hand on Dec. 4 against the Texans.

It’s the kind of pass rush the Packers might need against Matthew Stafford in Sunday’s regular-season finale at the Detroit Lions.

Perry will likely have to play with the large club-like cast that protected his left hand for the rest of the season. He had it on again in practice all week. Only his thumb is outside the cast, but that’s just for comfort; he said it’s basically useless.

Perry returned to the field less than three weeks after he underwent surgery to have multiple screws implanted into his broken metacarpals.

“I knew that I would get some opportunities out there just because of how I was feeling moving into the week,” Perry said. “I felt like I could go out there and use it, whatever situation it is, whether it’s on a third down or a couple of run plays here and there.”

Perry ended up playing 34 of the 78 defensive snaps against the Vikings. Matthews, who had previously been limited to third downs and obvious passing situation, also ramped up his playing time with 55 snaps. It’s perhaps no coincidence that the Packers tied their season high with four sacks against the Vikings.

“Yeah, it was huge, obviously -- he's battling through his broken hand,” Matthews said of Perry. “I was quite surprised he was able to generate as much pressure as he did, getting two sacks is huge with a club on, so good for him. It's good to have him back and obviously he'll continue to get more and more healthy and that's exactly what we need at our position, our pass-rushing position, when you've got Datone [Jones], Julius [Peppers], myself and Nick out there, at least as close to healthy as possible, that's a pretty good front four.”

It was also important for Perry, who reached 10 sacks in a season for the first time in his career. He’s playing this year on a one-year deal.

“For me, it’s a huge accomplishment,” said the former first-round draft pick. “I’m pretty excited about that, but at the end of the day, I’m just excited to play the game and having another opportunity to continue to stack my success rolling into Detroit.”