ASHBURN, Va. (AP) — That thought invaded Zach Ertz’s mind in late 2023, when he was no longer in football and a year removed from knee surgery. He wasn’t ready to retire, but something worried him.
“Are you still the same player?” he wondered.
Ertz has not only shown that he is, he is now poised to play for another championship.
The veteran tight end returns to Philadelphia this weekend to face the Eagles in the NFC title game as a valuable member of Washington Commanders’ high-scoring offense. Either Ertz or the team he spent his first 8 1/2 NFL seasons with will make it to the Super Bowl.
“When the alarm goes off, it won’t be about the nine years I spent there; it’s going to be about trying to make as many plays as possible for this team,” Ertz said this week. “But I’m not going out there with a chip on my shoulder or trying to prove to people X, Y or Z. I’m just trying to go out there and be the best version of myself.”
Ertz, 34, has been a very good version of himself over the past few months, reinvigorating his love for football while playing for coach Dan Quinn and offensive coordinator Cliff Kingsburywhom he knew from his time in Arizona. Oh, and next rookie quarterback Jayden DanielsAlso.
“Obviously playing with a quarterback like Jayden helped a lot,” Ertz said.
Daniels only targeted No. 1 receiver Terry McLaurin. than Ertz this season, completing 66 passes for 654 yards and seven touchdowns. The two connected seven times for 51 yards and a touchdown in the first two games of the playoffs.
“Obviously, a tight end could be a quarterback’s best friend,” Daniels said. “He’s seen a lot of football in this league, so (it’s been good) to be able to lean on him in certain situations and pick his brain.”
That same brain was concerned about what was to come after Ertz tore several ligaments in his right knee during a game in 2022. Following a trade the previous season with Philadelphia, the injury cut short his freshman season complete with the Cardinals when Kingsbury coached them. .
Turns out that was Ertz’s only full season in the desert. Kingsbury had been fired the previous offseason and the new regime released Ertz in November 2023. Despite some rumors of a suitor being interested in an experienced player with a winning resume, no contract has materialized.
“I really didn’t know what the future held for me,” Ertz said. “I didn’t know if I was going to finish it after having gone a long time without resuming last year. And I had opportunities to play, but it wasn’t the right opportunity.
The right opportunity presented itself in March after months of working with longtime coach Shannon Turley, and new Commanders general manager Adam Peters they hired Quinn and they brought Kingsbury to lead the offensive. The rest was a career renaissance.
“It was really an opportunity for me to fall in love with the game again, I would say, and to really enjoy the process again and be around people who know how to use me and allow me to be at my best,” Ertz said. “It exceeded all my expectations.”
Washington exceeded expectations going 12-5 in the regular season and pulling off upsets in Tampa Bay And Detroit has play for a conference championship for the first time in 33 years. Ertz is one of five players on the roster who were alive for the franchise’s Super Bowl at the time.
A few gray hairs did not go unnoticed by teammates happy that Ertz signed for another race.
“He’s got that veteran experience in all the high-level situations, and he’s done a great job, I think, of coming in and showing the young guys the ropes, how things are done and how to be a true professional.” , said the fourth-year tight end. » said John Bates. “He’s been a reliable target for us in the passing game and he stepped up in every situation we needed him in and made big plays.”
Ertz, a three-time Pro Bowl selection during his time with the Eagles, including the 2017 season where he helped them win your first Super Bowlknows he doesn’t play 90% of the snaps like he did in his prime. But success these days is less about volume and more about reliability, and Ertz has been something of a safety valve for Daniels.
“I knew the red zone and third down and two minutes would be a factor,” Quinn said. “And he outplayed them and kept going.”
Ertz had just 18 catches in six games for Philadelphia in 2021, Nick Sirianni’s first as coach, before being traded to Arizona. THE two words exchanged after the Commanders beat the Eagles on Dec. 22 in the teams’ second meeting this season before clearing the air.
“Zach and I are fine,” Sirianni said. “We talked after that night, we had a good laugh. I was very impressed with all the pieces he made. Not that I’m surprised at all. … He plays very good football. He was a major target for this team on third and fourth down and he did all the things I remember him being able to do at a very high level.
While Daniels was still at Arizona State before transferring to LSU, where he won the Heisman Trophy Last season, Ertz spent some time with quarterback Jalen Hurts in Philadelphia, where they struck up a friendship in the weight room.
“He’s a very hard worker (with) his work ethic and all the time he puts into taking care of his body,” Ertz said. “He has had a very long and good career. He always makes an impact by playing a big ball.
Ertz received a warm ovation in November for his first game at Lincoln Financial Field and understands it won’t be the same “because they have a lot on the line, too.” He and his wife Julie’s Ertz Family Foundation are still working in the city he still loves — and he’s happy to have the emotional comeback sorted out in the fall before the intensity of the playoffs takes over.
“I understand the environment this is going to be in,” Ertz said. “Everyone knows how I feel about this building, the people in it, the people in this community.”
Those in Washington’s burgundy-and-gold crowd will be cheering for him, as they have since Ertz found his groove.
“I just wanted the opportunity to come here and prove that I’m still the same guy,” he said. “It was great to be able to go out there and make plays for this team.”
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AP Sports Writer Dan Gelston in Philadelphia contributed to this report.
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