Eagles injuries have made Zach Ertz a big target, in the wrong way — but Alshon Jeffery’s return might help

MILWAUKEE — This is not how 2019 was supposed to go for Zach Ertz. The Eagles brought back wideout DeSean Jackson in the offseason, and Jackson was going to force opposing defenses to account for the deep ball, leaving the underneath wide-open for Ertz. Even without a true deep threat on the roster last year, he’d set an NFL record for tight ends, with 116 catches.

The only question was going to be whether Ertz would be OK sharing the wealth with Jackson, along with a revamped running back corps, emerging second-year tight end Dallas Goedert, and returning wide receivers Alshon Jeffery and Nelson Agholor.

Cut to last Sunday against Detroit, when Ertz found himself fighting through his pass routes, almost literally, as the Lions made No. 86 the focus of their efforts. Jackson (abdomen) and Jeffery (calf) were sidelined. Goedert (calf) sat out the first half, and when he got on the field, he quickly succumbed to the theme of the day, dropping a sure touchdown pass the only time he was targeted.

Ertz finished with four hard-won catches for 64 yards, including a 23-yard ramble on which he hurdled a defender, in a monumentally frustrating 27-24 loss. Agholor, Mack Hollins, rookie running back Miles Sanders and rookie wideout J.J. Arcega-Whiteside couldn’t stop dropping passes or fumbling the ball long enough to keep the Eagles from sliding to 1-2.

At times, it was chaos, and Ertz was powerless to stop it. Quarterback Carson Wentz ended up making tackles after both lost fumbles, giving Wentz what he figured was his first two-tackle game since the QB doubled as a safety back at Century High School in Bismarck, S.D.

“They put a lot of guys on me last game. Every passing situation, I was getting double-teamed. If it wasn’t obvious, the D-end or the linebacker was chipping me off the ball,” Ertz said as he and the Eagles prepared for their Thursday night visit with the Green Bay Packers.

“I’ve just got to focus on playing my game. I can’t let it affect me mentally. I’ve gotta view it as a sign of respect. I can’t get too upset if I’m not getting the ball, especially early on, because those other guys are going to be able to make plays. I’ve got a lot of confidence in those guys to make plays … The biggest thing for me is just not letting it frustrate me during the game.”

Ertz hopes Thursday will be different. Jeffery is expected to play, and Goedert should be less hobbled.

As dynamic as Ertz has proved to be — in the Detroit game he moved into second place on the franchise’s all-time receiving list with 454 catches, trailing only Harold Carmichael, with 589 — the kind of bracketed coverage Ertz saw Sunday is hard to defeat.

“If they have two guys on you, especially if you don’t know exactly where the second guy is going to be, pre-snap, it’s kinda tough,” Ertz said. “For example, if I have an out-breaking route, I’ll try to beat the guy on the outside of me; if I have an in-breaking route, kind of focus on beating the guy inside of me. But at the end of the day, by the rules that they’re being taught, I shouldn’t be able to catch the ball.”

In other words, Ertz feels if he can beat the inside defender on an inside route, or the outside defender when he’s going the other way, he can still make a catch, outfighting the guy over the top swooping in. That isn’t easy, for the tight end, or for the quarterback trying to place the ball.

“The whole idea of doubling a guy is that he doesn’t get the ball,” Wentz said this week. “[Detroit] took him away on a handful of plays. It just comes down to other guys being one-on-one everywhere else. Guys stepped up to make plays when we needed them at times last game, and we just came up short. It’s tough to really force-feed a guy when he’s getting double-covered. It takes him out of the game.”

Wentz acknowledged that there are ways to scheme Ertz open here and there, but he said a determined defense will adjust. The ultimate answer is for other receivers to make the plays they haven’t always made the past two weeks.

“When he has that kind of respect … it opens up other things,” Wentz said.

If Goedert is truly healthy, the Eagles might be able to go back to the “12” personnel setup — two tight ends, one running back — they have used so effectively in the past. This should help Ertz by letting him move around the formation more, and by making the Packers pay more attention to the run game.

“Using ’12′ always creates mismatches for us,” Wentz said.

Ertz also needs to make the most of every opportunity. He was targeted seven times Sunday, 16 times in the Atlanta game, when he emerged with eight catches, for 72 yards. That’s 23 targets the past two weeks, with 12 catches. Ertz was guilty of one of the Eagles’ six or seven drops against Detroit.

“I expect to be 100 percent, targets to completions. If it’s anything less, it’s not acceptable in my eyes,” Ertz said. “I know a lot of receivers feel the same way. We all know what happened last Sunday. Can’t dwell on it too long when you’ve got to install a full game plan for Thursday night.”

The 3-0 Packers opened the season with a special NFL 100th anniversary Thursday night home game against the Bears, winning 10-3. They have won five of their last six against the Eagles and four of their last five Thursday games. The Eagles have won all three TNF games of Doug Pederson’s tenure, all on the road.

“We’ve been on the road [for a Thursday night game], I think, five of my seven years,” Ertz said, correctly. “The NFL should look at that for sure.”

Ertz and others, including Pederson, said a short prep week makes you simplify, do what you do best, which can be a good thing. Ertz also said the Eagles work hard in the spring and summer to make a wide range of plays familiar.

“We’ve got so many plays installed, we don’t need a ton of reps on them … It just comes down to execution,” Ertz said.