Cris Carter, today:

“They have a receiver named Jordan Matthews. He caught a nice pass in a game. And the only reason why I’m using his name is because Chip is gone. He spun the ball, a lot like me and Key do, a lot like other receivers do. Chip Kelly brought him to the side and told him if you continue to do it you won’t play for me. So Jordan was really upset, he called me – I’ve been talking to him because I’ve been mentoring him for over a year – and said what do I do? I said you got one king, so listen to the king. But the king ain’t gonna be there long. 10 days later, they fired him.”

OK. That’s completely unnecessary on Chip’s part, right? There’s being a bad communicator, and then there’s intentionally getting your players to hate you. Maybe. But, look at the sort of ego an NFL coach has to deal with– a player calls his mentor because his coach told him not to showboat? Yeah, OK, it’s a wittle bit too much babying… until you consider the circumstance.

It appears, once again, we have a former-player-turned-media-person defending players at all costs.

If Carter’s timeline is right – 10 days before Chip got fired – it would’ve been the Cardinals game, the one the Eagles lost 40-17. Matthews had a good game, to be sure: eight receptions for 159 yards and one touchdown. But his nonsense started early and often, and it never occurred when the Eagles were ahead. My unofficial count is that Matthews showboated on five of his eight catches.

The first three came early on, when Matthews did a sort of lawnmower pull after first down receptions:


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And then emphatic first down signaling down 23-10:

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And then… the Rocky celebration when the Eagles cut the Cardinals lead to 37-16:

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Maybe an unnecessary threat by Chip (in the heat of the moment), but Matthews did a lot more than just “catch a nice pass” and “spin the ball” to piss off his coach. Especially the Rocky celebration, which was immediately noticed by basically everyone and led to several after-the-fact articles.

UPDATE: The ESPN circle-jerk:

UPDATE 2: Good point here:

UPDATE 3: Oh look, even Jordan Matthews gets it: