Blocking the way for Ertz to play

ZACH ERTZ sat down with his tight-end coaches, Ted Williams and Justin Peelle, in deep despair just a few weeks ago, Ertz said yesterday. Ertz's 30 catches for 430 yards and two touchdowns through 10 games aren't adding up to the breakthough year to stardom many observers predicted, the year Ertz expected of himself.

In fact, Eagles coach Chip Kelly, asked yet again yesterday why Ertz isn't getting more snaps and catches, basically told reporters it's because 8-year veteran Brent Celek is still a better all-around player, and a better fit for Kelly's offense.

"We have two very, very good tight ends . . . Brent Celek's doing a helluva job. It'd be very [unjust] if I told Brent he has to sit because I want to put someone else on the field. Brent's an outstanding blocker, I think he may be the best blocking tight end in the league. For what we do, I think he's a sure-handed receiver, he had a huge game against Carolina, had [116] yards receiving. I don't think it has anything to do with Zach. It has to really do with how well Brent's playing," Kelly said, as the Eagles began preparations for this weekend's visit from the Tennessee Titans.

"I was beating myself up over it," Ertz said yesterday. The second-year tight end has played 50 percent of the offensive snaps this season, to Celek's 69 percent, and is the team's fourth-leading receiver. "I was really hard on myself. I wasn't playing. If I had one negative play, I kind of [pressed] on the next play. Obviously, in this league, that can kind of spiral out of control. Not to say that [it did spiral out of control], but it kind of affected me on and off the field.

"What I've learned, being in this league, is you can't take things personally. Obviously, I want to be on the field each and every play, but that's not what I can control."

Williams and Peelle "kind of sat me down and just said, 'Hey, you're doing a great job. Don't be so hard on yourself,' " Ertz said. "The attitude maybe wasn't as up to par as it should have been. Obviously, I'm a selfless player, I haven't raised any concerns in the media . . . This is our job, this is our profession. This is what I love to do. I want to be doing it a very long time, and at a high level for a very long time, so I'm going to be the hardest on myself."

Ertz, who turned 24 last week, is faster and more fluid than Celek, who turns 30 in January. It seemed when the season started that finding Ertz deep down the seam might be one way the Birds could recapture the big-play passing magic they lost with the departure of DeSean Jackson. But Ertz's two top yardage days have been the first two games of the season - three catches for 77 yards against Jacksonville, four for 86 at Indianapolis. He didn't get above 50 yards again until last Sunday at Green Bay, a beside-the-point four catches for 55 yards in a blowout loss.

Kelly's run-based offense values blocking in its tight ends. Ertz said he feels blocking is no longer a weak spot in his game, but he agrees with Kelly that Celek might be the league's best there. Plus, though Kelly didn't say so, Celek doesn't make mistakes, doesn't get rattled, doesn't get down on himself, doesn't need coaches to cheer him up.

Ertz said he hasn't discussed his situation with Kelly.

"I'm not going to do that . . . We're 7-3. I don't really have a lot of merit [to ask for more playing time or the ball]. If we're winning, that's all I really care about," Ertz said.

As Ertz acknowledged yesterday, predictions that Kelly's offense would involve playing two tight ends routinely and throwing to one or both a heavy percentage of the time have not been borne out.

"We're a one-tight-end offense," he said.

Although that isn't literally true, it is in terms of opportunity. The Eagles haven't gotten both tight ends past the 50-yard receiving barrier in the same game this season.

When a reporter jokingly asked if Jimmy Graham, the Saints' tight-end-in-name-only receiving weapon, could play in Kelly's offense, Ertz said: "Probably not, to be honest."

Celek didn't want to claim the tight-end blocking title.

"I'm working toward it," he said. "Every day. I can get a lot better. I think I've got to be a little more dominant on certain plays."

Celek said he took pride in his blocking as a college player at Cincinnati, always thought he could bring that to the table as a pro - though he was perceived early in his career as more of a pass catcher, weighing maybe 15 pounds less than today's 257. Celek said there was tight-end blocking in Andy Reid's West Coast scheme, obviously, but it wasn't to the extent Kelly expects in the run game.

Celek said yesterday that he thinks the Patriots' multitalented Rob Gronkowski is a great blocker. "That guy's a beast, all over the field. There's a lot of good guys that can block, throughout the league," he said.

Celek said Ertz "is going to be a good player for a long time . . . he does a good job when he gets out there."

Celek said as a blocker, Ertz is "leaps and bounds ahead of where he was last year . . . He's working at it. He wants to be good - wants to be great - and he knows he's got to get better at his blocking, and he's been doing that, and I think it's starting to show up."

Blog: ph.ly/Eagletarian