Dallas Goedert Taking His Game to Next Level
PHILADELPHIA – Zach Ertz used to eat Washington for lunch, with some of his best games coming against the team from the DC area.
Well, Dallas Goedert had the Football Team for dinner on Tuesday night, and maybe he’ll ring in the new year by having them for breakfast on Jan. 2 when the teams meet again shortly after the Eagles won round one against their NFC East rivals, 27-17, at Lincoln Financial Field.
Maybe he’ll even wear the Elf costume he sported in his postgame interview. He wore it not because he lost a bet, but because Elf is one of his favorite movies.
“My sister gave me the idea to order it and wear it for a game,” he said. “It came in (Tuesday) and I said I got to (wear it), perfect timing. I think it looks pretty good.”
Goedert added that had the Eagles lost the costume may have even ended up in the trash.
“But I’m glad we won and it makes this costume a lot better,” he said.
Goedert has looked pretty good himself on the field lately.
Coming off a career-high 105 yards against the Jets on Dec. 5, Goedert struck again for another career-high, putting up 135 on seven catches, including a career-high 45-yard grab that required him to outjump two defenders to claim the ball.
“This guy’s making a lot of big plays, a lot of contested catches,” said Giants coach Joe Judge. “I thought the catch he made last night down the sideline on Washington where he ripped the ball away from a defensive back, I think is kind of telling the story of how this guy is as a player.
"He’s a developing player in this league and I think he’s a far way away from what he’s going to be in his career, but he’s obviously a very good player.”
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Judge found a way to stop Goedert in his tracks when they met on Nov. 28, with his defense holding him to one catch on three targets for no yards in a 13-7 win. The NYG coach gets another crack at showing there is a template to dealing with the 6-5, 255-pound product from South Dakota when the Eagles host the Giants on Sunday (1 p.m.).
Goedert is 4-2 in six career games against the Giants, with 16 catches for 179 yards. Against Washington, the numbers tell a different story, with a 5-1 record, 25 receptions for 334 yards, and one TD.
It’s nowhere near what Ertz did against Washington. He was 9-7 against the WFT with 87 receptions for 867 yards.
Dallas Goedert has posted back-to-back career-high receiving games.
USA Today
This is Goedert’s show now after the Eagles traded Ertz to Arizona then signed Goedert to a four-year contract extension for $59 million with $35.7M guaranteed.
Since the Eagles sent Ertz packing on Oct. 15, Goedert has 33 catches for 515 yards and two touchdowns in eight games for an average of just over four catches per game and 64.3 yards per game.
“He was a guy that they felt (comfortable) letting him lead as the number one guy,” said Judge. “He’s definitely making a lot of big plays for them. You look at the tight end position, those guys can really be a security blanket in a lot of ways for the quarterback, big targets, good hands, interior passing game, then also have a guy like him that can stretch the field and make plays down the field that’s when they become a weapon.”
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In his last two games, Goedert has 13 receptions for 240 yards and two touchdowns. He now has a career-high 731 yards and a career-high in yards per catch at 15.2 with three games left. His four touchdowns are one away from the most in his career and his 48 catches are 10 away from tying his best mark in that category.
“I’m just out there doing whatever the coaches call,” he said. “They’ve been calling my number, Jalen’s been finding me, I’ve been winning on my routes. As the season goes you just get better and better, you get more of a feel for what teams are going to do, how they’re going to defend you, ways to attack and it’s just been progressing throughout the year and, hopefully, it keeps trending upwards.”
Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Eagle Maven and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglemaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.
