Philadelphia Eagles believe injured WR Jordan Matthews will play Sunday

PHILADELPHIA -- Philadelphia Eagles head coach Doug Pederson said Tuesday that he thinks injured wide receiver Jordan Matthews will be able to play Sunday against the Bengals in Cincinnati.

Matthews, the Eagles' most productive receiver, injured his right ankle making a catch on a back-shoulder throw from quarterback Carson Wentz in the second quarter of Monday night's 27-13 loss to the Green Bay Packers.

The receiver returned to the game for one series at the start of the second half, but clearly was struggling and didn't return.

Pederson said Matthews probably will be held out of practice on Wednesday, but seemed confident that he'd be able to play against the Bengals.

The Eagles deactivated struggling wide receiver Nelson Agholor Sunday. So, after Matthews got hurt, the team's only three receivers were second-year man Dorial Green-Beckham and rookies Bryce Treggs and Paul Turner. Treggs has just three NFL receptions. Turner was signed off the team's practice squad last week.

The Eagles coach said he doesn't know yet whether he will activate Agholor, the team's 2015 first-round pick, for the Bengals game.

"We just have to see where Nelson is at, where his mind and head is at," Pederson said. "He had a good week last week. So we'll monitor that again later in the week.''

Green-Beckham had a season-high six catches for 82 yards against the Packers. But the 6-5, 240-pound wideout also wiped out a 41-yard catch and run by Darren Sproles when he was called for offensive pass interference. It's the second time in as many weeks that Green-Beckham has been flagged for offensive pass interference on a screen pass.

REPORT CARD V. PACKERS

RUSHING OFFENSE: B -- The Eagles didn't run as much as they had planned. They had just 18 rushing attempts. Rookie Wendell Smallwood gained 37 yards on nine carries. Quarterback Carson Wentz, who has been reluctant to run, had four carries for 33 yards against the Packers, including three first downs and his first rushing touchdown.

PASSING OFFENSE: C-plus -- Wentz completed 24 of 36 passes, but killed a promising third-quarter drive with an interception. The Eagles played most of the game without their best wideout, Jordan Matthews, who injured his ankle.

RUN DEFENSE: B-plus -- Aaron Rodgers did some early damage to them, picking up three rushing first downs. But overall, the Eagles did a good job against the Packers' ground game, holding them to 2.6 yards per carry.

PASS DEFENSE: F -- They couldn't cover and they couldn't get pressure on Rodgers. He completed 30 of 39 passes for 313 yards and two touchdowns. The Eagles failed to sack Rodgers and have just six sacks in the last five games. Rodgers completed 9 of 10 third-down passes against the Eagles.

SPECIAL TEAMS: A-minus -- Caleb Sturgis hit 48- and 50-yard field goals and had touchbacks on three of his four kickoffs. The Eagles' coverage units had another good performance.

COACHING: C-minus -- Jim Schwartz had no answers for Aaron Rodgers and the Packers' passing game. He tried going with a four-man rush and he tried blitzing. Neither was effective. Doug Pederson's decision to deactivate struggling wide receiver Nelson Agholor left the Eagles shorthanded at the position after Jordan Matthews got hurt in the second quarter.

Source: www.bing.com