Rishard Matthews goes from long shot to making history for Miami Dolphins

[number1fin]

Until two weeks ago, no Miami Dolphins receiver had ever caught 11 or more passes and multiple touchdowns in the same game. Only five-time Pro Bowler Mark Clayton had tallied at least 10 catches in a multi-score game, with a 1988 performance against the Jets.

Enter Rishard Matthews.

With $90 million worth of receivers – Mike Wallace and Brian Hartline – lining up on the outside, it was Matthews in the slot who delivered one of the best receiving performances in franchise history against the Buccaneers with 11 catches, 120 yards and two scores.

He followed that up by catching four passes for 52 yards Sunday against San Diego, again filling after Brandon Gibson’s season-ending knee injury.

Not bad for a second-year player who’s still learning a new position.

Matthews was viewed by the coaching staff as more of an outside receiver than a weapon in the slot, but he spent the beginning of the season backing up all three starting receivers –Hartline, Wallace and Gibson. But when Gibson’s season came to an abrupt end Oct. 27 against New England, Matthews moved inside full-time.

“I have to be honest with you: Matthews has exceeded my expectations in that position,” offensive coordinator Mike Sherman said. “I see him more of an outside receiver than an inside receiver. The inside guys have to be nifty, and he’s a little more nifty than I gave him credit for.

“[Matthews] kind of has this sleep-eyed look to him – you’re not sure he’s always paying attention but apparently he has been. He’s doing a very good job, I’m real proud of how he performed [against Tampa Bay]. He’s stepped into that role and done a nice job for us, so I’m real proud of him.”

http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/11/23/3772319/rishard-matthews-goes-from-long.html

Anybody ever notice Mike Sherman kind of has this over-the-hill cataract-eyed look to him? You're not sure he's always paying attention?

 

[PYRO]

Interesting, we'll see if he can keep it up once game plans start to add him into their defensive scheme.

 

[Travis34]

Thanks for the read while I'm on 3rd shift! I'm really hoping Matthews buds into a star, I love the kid. But I do know what he means by the sleepy eyes. I think he just looks like an easy going guy, like against the Bucs when Goldson was trying to start **** but Rishard played it cool

 

[number1fin]

Thanks for the read while I'm on 3rd shift! I'm really hoping Matthews buds into a star, I love the kid. But I do know what he means by the sleepy eyes. I think he just looks like an easy going guy, like against the Bucs when Goldson was trying to start **** but Rishard played it cool

I understand it too. I just don't like Sherman equating it to him not being aware of what's going on. Sleep-eyed does not = "slow".

 

[phinfan33]

I was high on him myself when we drafted him. I saw highlight footage of Rishard, and read his stats. I didn't watch any of his games, it was more of a gut feeling than anything else. I hope he proves me right.

 

[number1fin]

I'll give credit where it's do (regrettably) and will go out on a limb to say that Rishard Matthews is Jeff Ireland's greatest value draft selection (7th round) of his tenure as GM of the Miami Dolphins.

[video=youtube;S6srtbQe3KA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&persist_app=1&v=S6srtbQe3KA[/video]

 

[Amanojacu]

I think what's more telling about this article is that Sherman doesn't know what he has and how to use them.

 

[kwask4]

Ya I saw the interview where he said he wasn't sure about Mathews because he has sleepy eyes lol Sherman seems slow not rishard

 

[Daytona Fin]

I like what matthews has shown in his new role. He should be a valuable part of this offense moving forward. I do think Tannehill deserves some of the credit for making the matthews / gibson transition so successful.

 

[ITS!MATEO]

I never thought he was a long shot.. I was surprised we signed 2 receivers in free agency because we had him developing. I figured he'd take the 3rd spot by his 2nd year, like he has now. It was due to injury, but we all see he could've manned that spot just fine all year.

 

[Yamilo]

Dude reminds me of Laveranues Coles for some reason. I hope he turns out something close to that.

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk 2

 

[ANUFan]

Wouldn't it be awesome if we had a REAL OC? We have yet to find away to incorparate M.Thigpen into the offense. This is the reason why I don't understand folks that say, "we don't have talent on this team?" Don't forget we are still missing Keller, Gibson and 1 or 2 other offensive talent on this team.

Sorry we have more than enough talent to win more games than we have. We unfortunately don't have the offensive mind and assistant coaches to properly utilize all that talent. Quite frankly, its disheartening.

 

[spiketex]

What some Dolphin fans may not realize is that Rishard Matthews was Colin Kaepernick's favorite receiver at Nevada and continued to do well in the year after Kaep left for the NFL. While some have modest expectations for him, the reality is that he has already played a big part in helping to develop a top class QB and he doesn't lack for confidence. Last week there was one screwup between Tannehill and Matthews that resulted in the ball sailing over Rishard's head and he got the don't f*** up again look from Ryan, but generally he is very good at doing what he is told and catching the ball - I don't see many misses.
Rishard is still learning to read the Defense when playing in the slot but he's a quick learner and should be given more opportunities. Hartline is good but it was obvious last week that he was not having a very good game, he made some errors that he would not normally make. But I don't understand why Sherman continued to pass in that direction in preference to Matthews.
Rishard is one of the better surprises of the season (Charles Clay is another). Let's see what he can do. To paraphrase Keyshawn Johnson - just throw him the damn ball.

 

[Irishfinfan1]

Very happy with Rishard, the biggest question I had was how often he would make the field with Wallace, Hartline and Gibson ahead of him. I wonder does he have a shot at breaking the top 2 or 3 starters if there were no injuries.

 

[spiketex]

Very happy with Rishard, the biggest question I had was how often he would make the field with Wallace, Hartline and Gibson ahead of him. I wonder does he have a shot at breaking the top 2 or 3 starters if there were no injuries.

Gibson is also very good. It's a pity that one of the four is not a bigger physical guy. That is all we are missing is the big physical beast for certain plays.