Kelly: We Limited Ryan Mathews Due To Injury

Ryan Mathews injured his groin in the Eagles’ loss last night in the second quarter, Chip Kelly said today.

“Ryan was hurt yesterday,” Kelly said. “Ryan hurt his groin on a 22-yard run before he broke the long run and really couldn’t go. [Running backs coach] Duce [Staley] was monitoring him on the sideline and what he could do and what he couldn’t do so I think Duce does a great job with those guys and I have full trust in Duce doing that.”

Kelly added that Matthews re-injured his groin on the 63-yard touchdown run. The running back played several snaps after that in the fourth quarter, carrying the ball once for one yard and catching a four-yard pass.

“When he pulled by [Luke] Kuechly, he said he felt it again and he didn’t think he was going to make it in the end zone,” Kelly said. “And then Duce monitored him after that so Duce was dealing with that in terms of whether he can go in the game after that or can’t go in the game after.”

Through seven games, Mathews is the Eagles’ leading rusher with 342 yards on 56 carries. DeMarco Murray, meanwhile, has totaled 307 rushing yards on 88 attempts.

When asked about the workload split between the two backs and if he thinks Mathews should get more carries when he’s healthy, Kelly emphasized that Mathews has been hurt the last two weeks.

“I just deal with the present case,” he said. “He’s injured right now and we’ll see if he’ll be available for the Cowboys game.”

Kelly also did not confirm Les Bowen’s report that Jordan Matthews has an injured hand. According to Bowen, Matthews suffered a ligament sprain three weeks ago, though Kelly said Matthews’ hand isn’t hurt.

Jason Peters exited the game yesterday with lower back spasms, though he’s expected to be available going forward.

“They said that, from what I understand, he should be good to go for next Tuesday,” Kelly added.

Kelly was also asked about if he’d consider benching Sam Bradford. The quarterback has thrown nine touchdown passes and ten interceptions this season, recording a 76.4 passer rating. However, according to Pro Football Focus, Bradford’s receivers have a drop rate of 9.1 percent, which is the worst mark since 2007.

“No, not at all,” Kelly said. “I think our quarterback is playing well.”