Eagles rookie Matthews breaks free in blowout win

For weeks, the reports about Jordan Matthews in training camp were breathless. It was hard for sportswriters to catch themselves from overhyping a rookie wide receiver who hadn't even faced NFL competition and was still running with the second-team offense.

But Matthews had his second-team quarterback throwing to him for the first full game of this season on Monday night, and with Mark Sanchez on the passing end, the rookie receiver had a breakout performance in the Eagles' 45-21 shellacking of the Panthers at Lincoln Financial Field.

"You can't say enough about him," Sanchez said of Matthews. "I don't want to say too much because he'll get a big head, his hat won't fit. But he's such a talent."

Matthews led the Eagles in receptions with seven, receiving yards with 138, and touchdown catches with two. It was the first 100-yard game of Matthews' short career, and likely the first of many for the slot receiver who eventually could find himself on the outside.

But it was on the inside that he made his mark against the Panthers. Coach Chip Kelly said the Eagles thought they could exploit the middle of the field with Matthews and tight end Brent Celek (five catches for 116 yards) with the attention receiver Jeremy Maclin was drawing on the outside.

"I felt like Jeremy Maclin," Matthews said of his teammate, who already has three 100-yard receiving games this season. "If you take too much time looking at your stats, drinking your own Kool-Aid, you'll lose your appetite."

Fittingly, Matthews' predecessor, Jason Avant, was on the other side of the field. Avant's tenure as the Eagles' slot receiver was a productive one, considering some of his physical limitations. If you needed a clutch third-down catch or a one-handed grab, he came through.

But his time was up, and he knew it, and the Eagles released Avant last offseason. He said last week that he predicted his replacement would come in the draft, and when the Eagles selected Matthews out of Vanderbilt in the second round, Kelly said the rookie would start in the slot.

Kelly said that Matthews' size (6-foot-3, 212 pounds) was ideal for the inside. He would create a mismatch against smaller slot cornerbacks, as he did against the Panthers' James Dockery (6-1, 185), and if the Eagles wanted to run, he would have a size advantage as a blocker.

But the Eagles didn't run much in the first half, as Sanchez went to his training-camp favorite repeatedly during a 10-play, 91-yard, second-quarter drive. Matthews caught four passes for 73 yards, finishing with a 13-yard TD strike from Sanchez during the series.

Matthews' night was far from over. He pulled in a pass over the middle later in the second and raced 33 yards, with most of the ground gained after the catch. If not for a shoestring tackle, he would have gone to the house for his second touchdown.

In the third quarter, after the Eagles coasted into the half with a 31-7 lead, Matthews picked up 14 yards on another pass over the middle. But Matthews also got it done on the outside. Sanchez rolled out and found his receiver early in the fourth quarter, and Matthews evaded one tackler and plowed across the goal line for his second score.

"He still made a few mistakes out there, a couple wrong assignments at times. But he's starting to feel more comfortable out there," Kelly said. "You saw his speed, I think, a few times when we got him matched up on some of those shallow crosses when he really took off and ran. We're finally getting what we had seen from him in college - the run after the catch."

Matthews was consistent in the first half of the season, catching at least one pass in each game and compiling numbers (32 catches for 313 yards and three touchdowns) that would far exceed Avant's from last season.

But he had a slow start. After a difficult preseason opener in which he dropped three passes, Matthews had a couple of drops against the Colts in Week 2. He had just three catches after two games and some began wondering: "Where's the receiver we heard so much about in camp?"

Rarely do rookie receivers, even first round draft picks, come into the NFL and put up big numbers. Kelly has said that the zone defenses the pros employ give young receivers early fits. And that may have contributed to Matthews' slow start.

But he is a part of what could end up being the best receiver draft in league history. The Panthers' Kelvin Benjamin had already made the transition and entered Monday night's game with 40 catches for 589 yards and five touchdowns.

The Eagles could have their own star in the making. Matthews is far from a finished product and he may not always have Sanchez as his throwing partner, but the rookie is delivering on the promise of training camp.

You don't have to close your eyes and imagine anymore.

@Jeff_McLane