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Zach Ertz Rebounds from Poor Outing

Eagles tight end, who is on pace for his second 1,000-yard receiving season, scored two late touchdowns in Monday's overtime win against the Giants, putting behind him a couple of costly drops in Miami a week earlier
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All week, Eagles tight end Zach Ertz took accountability for his part in the Eagles’ loss in Miami. He dropped a pass inside the 5-yard line then let a touchdown pass slip through his hands in a 37-31 defeat to the Dolphins.

On Monday night, Ertz was able to put that performance behind him. There were no dropped passes, and he finished as the Eagles’ leading receiver in a 23-17 overtime win against the New York Giants.

“It was tough last week physically and mentally,” said Ertz. “It was probably the worst game that I’ve played in a long time. And so being able to just come out here and rebound and have the coaches and the guys kind of trust in me and never lose faith, obviously it means a lot to me.”

Ertz made nine catches on 13 targets against New York for 91 yards. He caught a pair of two-yard touchdowns, the first with 1:53 to play in regulation, the second in overtime that won the game.

“It was kind of the message after the game that our best players and our leaders – we have to be playing our best at this point in the year,” said Ertz. “A lot of guys took it hard last week. The performance wasn’t us, me in particular, but it definitely feels great to find a way to win and be a big part of it. It was definitely fun out there.”

Somehow, the Giants elected not to double cover Ertz when the Eagles were in the red zone on those two touchdowns.

Even more incredible is that Ertz was really the only tested and experienced pass catcher in the game and the Giants still didn’t double him despite the Eagles being down to receiver Greg Ward and tight end Josh Perkins, two recent practice squad callups. Backup tight end Dallas Goedert was also on the field for the game-winning throw.

“Obviously, three tight ends in the game and we had Josh and Dallas

After Monday’s outing, Ertz is close to topping 1,000 yards receiving for a second straight year. He has 827 heading into Sunday’s game at Washington, a season after piling up 1,163 yards receiving.

His receptions are down from last year, when he set an NFL record for tight ends with 116 catches, but if he averages seven catches over the final three games, he will reach 100. He sits at 79 currently.

Ertz has also reached five touchdowns this season after the two he grabbed on Monday. He needs to average one TD per game the rest of the way to reach his career high of eight set in 2017 and equaled in 2018.