There were only so many opportunities for him to work on it during the offense’s portion of practice. So Matthews volunteered to run routes with the scout team. That meant running the
Dallas Cowboys' offense against the Eagles’ starting defense.
During last Thursday’s practice, Matthews dropped a pass during a red-zone drill. He was frustrated by that, making the same mistake he was working so hard to correct.
There were only so many opportunities for him to work on it during the offense’s portion of practice.
So Matthews volunteered to run routes with the scout team. 
That meant running the
Dallas Cowboys' offense against the Eagles’ starting defense.
"I had a mishap," Matthews said. "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. Go against
Byron Maxwell. Go be
Dez Bryant for him. Or go inside and help out
Malcolm (Jenkins) and do some inside reps. It’s something, going back to Week 1, that I like to jump in and do a little scout team."
Quarterback Sam Bradford said he had never seen a teammate work any harder than Matthews did last week.
On Sunday, that translated into nine receptions for 133 yards, including the game-winning 41-yard touchdown in overtime.
"The one thing is if you're in a slump, it takes someone with a great work ethic to get out of the slump, and that's what Jordan has," head coach Chip Kelly said. "He worked extremely hard, did a lot of work actually after our reps on offense were done, mimicking Dez Bryant for our defense and did a really good job at that, too."
Offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur thought of a wide receiver he had with the
Cleveland Browns. Shurmur didn’t name him, but said the player was physically gifted without having to work that hard at it. When that player went into a slump, it was tough to get out of it.