Quick Slants: Should Eagles use Zach Ertz more?

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At the beginning of the season, Zach Ertz was expected to be one of the breakout stars of this Eagles offense. Through the first two games of 2014, he lived up to that promise.

In two weeks, Ertz caught seven passes for 163 yards and had a 23.3 yards per catch average. A thousand-yard season even seemed like a possibility.

In the eight games since, however, Ertz has only 267 yards and 11.6 yards per catch. 

A diminished role in the offense is partially to blame for the second year tight end's struggles. Blocking tight end Brent Celek has actually been seeing the lion's share of the playing time.

On Wednesday's edition of Quick Slants, Comcast SportsNet's Derrick Gunn pointed out that Ertz has been on the field 50 percent of the time compared to 69 percent for Celek. He said this ratio must start to lean the other way if the Eagles' offense is to be successful.

"You look at how Green Bay used their tight ends when the Eagles blitzed. Where were the tight ends for the Eagles?" he said. "Zach Ertz needs to be on the football field catching passes for this team, Roob."

CSNPhilly.com's Reuben Frank disagreed.

"You can't force feed Zach Ertz," he said. "I think Zach Ertz's time will come, but right now I like the balance and I think you're going to keep seeing Brent Celek out there when they go one tight end."

Frank compared Celek's presence in the lineup to that of receiver Riley Cooper, who has pulled in a mere 36 passes for 376 yards. Like Celek, Cooper is considered an above-average blocker.

Still, Gunn was adamant that Ertz's role must expand.

"You went out and drafted this guy Ertz highly as a pass catching tight end," Gunn said. 

"He showed a lot of promise in his rookie year. We expected him to crank it up this season, Roob. Why have they toned it down instead of cranking it up?"

For the full discussion, see the video above.

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