To build chemistry, Carson Wentz listened to Kanye, Jordan Matthews to Jason Aldean

To really know a man, walk a day in his shoes.

Eagles wide receiver Jordan Matthews didn’t have that kind of time. His new starting quarterback, Carson Wentz, spent the entire preseason either injured or playing with the third team, so he needed to create some chemistry with the rookie QB after he was shockingly named the starter in the wake of Sam Bradford’s last minute trade last week.

So he had an idea.

“I really like music,” Matthews said at the end of his news conference Sunday, minutes after finishing a seven catch, 114 yard performance.“I don’t really get into TV. I was like ‘What do you all listen to out in North Dakota? I don’t know any rappers from North Dakota’. He said his favorite album was from Jason Aldean. I went to school in Nashville so I heard of Jason. It was the ‘Dirt Road Anthem’ album. I thought ‘if I’m going to learn this guy’s mindset, I have to listen to his music.’ I listened to the whole album and it was pretty good. There’s a song on there called ‘Fly Over States’, and it made sense because where he lives is a ‘fly over state’. I’ve never been to North Dakota so I got a feel for who he is. He’s a humble guy from North Dakota and I’m a humble guy from Alabama. The bottom line is that I got to know him a little bit through that. I told him that if I listen to Jason Aldean, he has to listen to a Kanye [West] album. You have to know who I am.”

Between countless conversations about how to handle man coverage looks (many of which the two of them saw as Wentzthrew for 278 yards and two scores in his NFL debut) to extra reps in practice, perhaps it was their bonding over music that got them on the same page.

And that page led the Eagles to a 29-10 victory to open the NFL season.

“The bottom line is I got to know him a bit after that,” Matthews said.”And I was like, if I am gong to listen to Jason Aldean,you have to listen to Kanye. So I made him listen to ‘Graduation.'”

Matthews, at the end of his presser, didn’t know for sure if Wentz had done his homework and listened to Kanye. But the media wasted no time in doing its due diligence to find out.

“Between Jordan and I, we were giving eachother a little crap about music,” Wentz said.”Kanye is good too, but I like my country first.”