First-year receiver Chris Matthews has breakout game for Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX

By Nick Eaton on February 2, 2015 at 2:46 AM

Chris Matthews had never caught a pass in the NFL before Super Bowl XLIX. In fact, he didn’t make much of an impact on the field for the Seattle Seahawks until the postseason, when he quickly became a name known around the league.

Matthews is the player who caught the onside kick in the NFC Championship, setting up Seattle’s final drive to steal the game from the Green Bay Packers and earn a trip to Glendale, Arizona. The first-year player suddenly found himself on every highlight reel and emblazoned across the nation’s newspapers.

On Sunday, Matthews stood out as an emerging star, giving Seattle a much-needed spark after the Seahawks offense started flat against the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLIX. He led the Hawks in receiving with 109 yards and one touchdown on four receptions, including two spectacular grabs of 44 and 45 yards.

Seahawks receiver Chris Matthews celebrates his touchdown at the end of the second quarter Sunday in Super Bowl XLIX. (Charlie Riedel/AP Photo)

One year ago, however, Matthews was working as a security guard at Foot Locker. He had just finished a disappointing third season in the Canadian Football League, one that had him sidelined for most of the year with a turf-toe injury.

In February 2014, he got a call from the Seattle Seahawks, who had just won Super Bowl XLVIII: Would he like to try out for the defending champs? That night? As Sports Illustrated related last month, Matthews nearly blew the chance when he said he didn’t get off work until 9 p.m. Then Matthews’ agent called him and told him to get his butt on a flight to Seattle.

Matthews earned an invitation to training camp but didn’t make Seattle’s 53-man roster at the beginning of the season. Relegated to the practice squad, his big chance came after rookie linebacker Kevin Pierre-Louis suffered a season-ending shoulder injury. It was just Dec. 6 that the 6-foot-5, 218-pound receiver joined Seattle’s active roster.

Who would have known the 25-year-old from Long Beach, California — who had missed the NFL after leaving Kentucky in 2011 — would make some of the biggest plays in the Seahawks’ postseason?

“It has been an amazing journey,” Matthews said after Sunday’s heartbreaking loss in Super Bowl XLIX. “God is good. He’s definitely good to me and everybody. When your time is up, you have to be ready. I feel like I did as much as I could do help myself be ready and put myself in position to excel.

“They definitely gave me the opportunity today and Russ threw a bunch of great balls,” he said of quarterback Russell Wilson, “especially towards me, and I just wanted to execute and capitalize on them.”

Matthews caught the Patriots by surprise through the heart of Sunday’s contest. In the second quarter, Matthews set up Seattle’s first touchdown with a “SportsCenter”-worthy catch on a 44-yard bomb from Wilson, twisting in the air as he leaped for the reception. Three plays later, Marshawn Lynch tied the game at 7 with a three-yard touchdown.

Chris Matthews runs with the ball against Patriots safety Devin McCourty on Sunday. (Brynn Anderson/AP Photo)

Then, just before halftime, he was instrumental to the Seahawks’ 29-second, 80-yard, game-tying drive that gave Seattle momentum going into the locker room. With six seconds on the clock, Wilson threw a dart to Matthews in the end zone to match the Patriots at 14 points.

After the break, Wilson kept going to Matthews, and he broke away for another long reception — this one for 45 yards — on the third play of the third quarter. That set up a 25-yard field goal by kicker Steven Hauschka to give Seattle its first lead, 17-14, of the evening.

But the Patriots eventually figured it out and put cornerback Brandon Browner, the former Legion of Boom standout, on the streaking Matthews. Browner effectively shut down Matthews for the rest of the game, eliminating one of Wilson’s key passing targets and taking some air out of the Seahawks’ offense.

“It was a challenge going against him, but it was great, especially in the Super Bowl. I take it as a compliment,” Matthews said of Browner. “I definitely didn’t think that he was going to be on me. The second half came around and that’s what happened.”

Wilson attempted only one more pass to Matthews after the third quarter, and it fell incomplete with Browner in tight coverage.

After all he’s been through in the past four years, and especially in the past 12 months, Matthews was thankful for the opportunity but of course would have preferred to walk away from University of Phoenix Stadium with a win.

“I mean, it definitely would have been (better),” Matthews said. “But I wasn’t worried about myself; I was worried about the team. I was wanting to go down there and play as a team player and do what I needed to do to help win the game, and obviously it wasn’t enough.”