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Wentz gives Matthews a chance at continuity, history

On Oct. 9, 2010, in the fourth quarter of Vanderbilt's 52-6 victory over Eastern Michigan, Jordan Matthews caught a pass from a quarterback named Jared Funk. It went for 35 yards, and it was the first of Matthews' 262 receptions at Vanderbilt - the most of any player in Southeastern Conference history.

On Oct. 9, 2010, in the fourth quarter of Vanderbilt's 52-6 victory over Eastern Michigan, Jordan Matthews caught a pass from a quarterback named Jared Funk. It went for 35 yards, and it was the first of Matthews' 262 receptions at Vanderbilt - the most of any player in Southeastern Conference history.

On Sunday, in the fourth quarter of the Eagles' 29-10 victory over the Browns, Matthews caught a pass from a quarterback named Carson Wentz. It went for 16 yards, and it was the latest of Matthews' 159 receptions with the Eagles - the most of any player through 33 games in franchise history.

Matthews' productivity has been impressive in and of itself. But it is made only more so when one considers that Funk was the first and Wentz the most recent of the 10 quarterbacks whom Matthews has played with in college and the NFL. Ten. Six at Vandy. Four with the Eagles: Nick Foles, Mark Sanchez, Sam Bradford, Wentz. (He even played with five in high school.) Matthews has appeared in 84 games at Vanderbilt and with the Eagles, which means that every eight or nine games on average, he has to restart the process of familiarizing himself and establishing some synchronicity with whoever happens to be throwing him the football.

He doesn't seem to mind. He caught seven passes for 114 yards and a touchdown against the Browns in Wentz's debut, a year after he caught 10 passes for 102 yards in Bradford's debut with the Eagles, 10 months after he caught a touchdown pass in Sanchez's debut with the Eagles. Still, Wentz's presence should do more than merely stoke optimism that the Eagles have at last found a franchise centerpiece. It should raise an interesting question: Just how better can Matthews be if he's finally catching passes from the same quarterback for more than a few weeks?

"It's a different thing when that guy's your brother and when he's your quarterback," Matthews said. "When he's your quarterback, it's like, 'I'm just doing my job.' When he's your brother, it's like, 'I've got to get these 12 yards because I want him to be able to trust that I'm going to be where I need to be so that we can get out here and win football games. . . . And I want him to be just as successful as me, if not more.'

"When you start having that relationship, when you want to give up of yourself for somebody else, the games, they just happen. It becomes fun. It becomes something everybody loves to enjoy. Like I said, Carson has that attitude."

Apart from Matthews' seven receptions against the Browns - including a 19-yard touchdown and a 28-yard gain on which Wentz changed the pass protection at the line of scrimmage and Matthews adjusted his route accordingly - the connection that he and Wentz already have formed was a popular postgame discussion topic. Part of the reason was that the subject of any question to the talkative Matthews tends to become a popular discussion topic. He's smart, and he's open and honest, and even playing a position that lends itself to athletes with sizable egos and oft-eccentric personalities, he likely leads the NFL in words per catch. For instance, he revealed Sunday that, in return for introducing Matthews to Jason Aldean's country music, Wentz had to listen to a Kanye West album. "I was like, 'What do you all listen to out in North Dakota? I don't know any rappers from North Dakota,' " Matthews said.

If Wentz and coach Doug Pederson do become fixtures for the Eagles, Matthews may have to change more than his listening habits. Through his first two seasons, Matthews lined up in the slot exclusively for Chip Kelly and came off the field on plays in which the Eagles used just two wide receivers. As a result, Matthews played just 79 percent of the Eagles' offensive snaps last season.

But against the Browns, he lined up on the outside sometimes and took 92 percent of the snaps. His total, 71, was the second-highest in any game of his career, and the increased time on the field and a greater variety of routes should afford him more opportunities for more catches, more production, more big plays. (Matthews also dropped two passes Sunday after dropping five last season, according to SportingCharts.com. So it's possible those will increase, too.)

"Carson loves throwing the deep ball," he said. "That's one thing that's been, like, a big topic with us. Those routes, where you used to run them for the love of the game for 15 years, where you're just taking the top off [the defense], Carson will rear back and throw that thing. There's nothing but land in North Dakota, so they just be slingin'."

Harold Carmichael remains the Eagles' career leader in receptions, with 589 in 180 games. Not to look too far ahead, but at his current rate of catches per game, Matthews, at 24 the eldest wide receiver on the Eagles' roster, would need just 90 more games to surpass Carmichael's record. Ninety games is the equivalent of more than five and a half regular seasons. For all the quarterback changes Matthews has had to handle in his career, if Wentz is still the one throwing the football to him then, he probably won't mind. The Eagles certainly won't.

msielski@phillynews.com

@MikeSielski