Eagles Super Bowl Hero Zach Ertz to Masters Jinx?
Zach Ertz made perhaps the most underrated play in the Philadelphia Eagles Super Bowl LVII triumph in 2018.
Right after the New England Patriots took their first lead of the game at 33-32 with 9:22 to play in the game, the Eagles came upon a fourth-and-1 from their own 45 with just over five minutes to go.
The Eagles went for it, with Nick Foles hitting Ertz for a two-yard gain, keeping alive a drive that led to the go-ahead, and, as it turned out, the championship-clinching touchdown. Ertz scored that too, diving across the goal line on a third-down throw from 11 yards out.
The former Eagles tight end, who was traded to the Arizona Cardinals at the trade deadline in 2012, is hardly the jinx that Jon Rahm claimed him to be after Rahm outdueled Brooks Koepka and others to capture the 87th Masters championship on Easter Sunday.
OK, Rahm was just kidding around.
He and Ertz are close friends. Both played their respective sports in the PAC-12, Rahm at Arizona State, and Ertz at Stanford.
At the awards ceremony in Augusta, where Rahm received the customary green jacket that goes to the Master champ, he talked about a text exchange he and Ertz had prior to the start of the tournament on Thursday.
“For those people who believe in jinxing other players, people, whatever it may be, Thursday morning when I was getting on the golf cart to get to this putting green 10 minutes before my tee time, I saw a text from a good friend of mine. And I’m going to name him because he is a Super Bowl-winning champion. Zach Ertz,” Rahm said.
Shortly after that, Rahm four-putted to start his tournament.
“He sent the text, I’m gonna paraphrase here, but he said that first green’s looking like a walk in the park or something like that right now,” Rahm said. “Ten minutes before I four-putted to start the tournament. So thank you, Zach, don’t ever do that again please.”
That’s when the fun began.
Ertz heard what Rahm said and tweeted:
“I apologize for absolutely nothing! You can expect these texts every major going forward my friend! Congratulations!”
Even now-retired pass rusher, J.J. Watt, got into the fun, tweeting that Ertz, his former teammate with the Cardinals, probably deserves a green jacket, too.
Ed Kracz covers the Philadelphia Eagles for SI's EaglesToday.
Please follow him and our Eagles coverage on Twitter on @kracze.
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