When the Philadelphia Eagles decided to trade away DeSean Jackson and let Jeremy Maclin walk away in free agency they were planning on Jordan Matthews being the leading receiver for the offense. That did not start off well as Matthews had more drops than touchdowns to his name with Sam Bradford under center. After finally getting a breakout game against the Dallas Cowboys, can Matthews keep the momentum moving?
Matthews had a big Week 9 to the tune of 133 yards and one touchdown. That was a big improvement from what he had been putting up as drops were becoming a huge issue for the receiver. Bradford could no longer rely on him to make the big plays and the offense was hurting as a result. After taking some time with the scout team to get out of his funk, Matthews thinks his slump is over.
I had a mishap," Matthews said, via ESPN.com. "There's only one way to put it behind you -- to go work. I think the hardest time when you're going through something is when you're sitting down at home. You can't really fix it. But I'm on the practice field. I have 10 periods to put better stuff on tape so I can put that last thing behind me. So I took some scout team reps."
The fall of Matthews plus the injuries to Nelson Agholor and Riley Cooper have forced Bradford to rely on other receiving options including Miles Austin who has seen his numbers go up this year. While he might have only had one catch for 27 yards, Austin has been one of the more active receivers on the team. All of that will help the Eagles down the stretch as they remain in the driver's seat in the NFC East. Head coach Chip Kelly believes the quality depth forming is one of the reasons Bradford is improving.
"(Bradford) works extremely hard at it," said Kelly via PhillyVoice.com. He's in this building all the time, watching film, studying, working at it. We've seen constant improvement out of Sam. I hope it continues and he'll continue to play even better as we move forward."
Along with Matthews' big night, the run game finally saw some life against the Dallas Cowboys. DeMarco Murray and Ryan Mathews have both been struggling on the field, but that changed in Week 9. Murray got the run game the spark it needed as Mathews deals with a groin injury. Going forward, the team needs that to continue and facing a weaker defense in the Miami Dolphins could certainly help.
"You've just got to continue to grind," Murray said, via ESPN.com. "No matter what you've done in the past -- bad, negative, great -- you've got to continue to come in every day to work. Don't let it affect your play. Don't let the noise, distractions and all that affect how you play."
