Report: Zach Ertz Suffered Fractured Rib Against Cowboys

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By Paul Bowman, Sports Talk Philly Editor

While no official report has been released by the Eagles, the NFL Network reported an update on Eagles tight end Zach Ertz on Monday.

Ian Rapoport reports that the injury that sidelined Ertz for a part of the game was a fractured rib.

How tough is #Eagles TE Zach Ertz? He suffered a fractured rib last night and somehow played and helped put Philly on the doorstep of the playoffs.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) December 23, 2019

That news should not neccessarily come as a surprise to anyone who saw the game and witnessed Ertz getting hit.

Early on in the game, Carson Wentz through a ball unnecessarily high and it cost him his top play maker as Xavier Woods had a free shot to the rib cage of Ertz.

Ertz did return to the game later on and ended up playing 59 snaps, which was 82% of possible offensive snaps.

The Eagles offense played just seven snaps before the play Ertz was injured on.

He also made four catches for 28 yards in the contest, all of which came after the injury.

His status for this Sunday is uncertain.

Dallas Goedert did well taking over as the primary tight end, but the Eagles are now in a serious bind.

If the Eagles are without Ertz this weekend, it could be down to Goedert, Ward, Davis and Perkins as the only receivers and tight ends with Nelson Agholor and JJ Arcega-Whiteside still ailing from their own injuries.

They will face a difficult decision to potentially place one of Agholor or Ertz on injured reserve and free up a roster spot for the game against the Giants, but doing so would also eliminate the player from returning to contribute to a playoff run.

The Eagles have TE Alex Ellis and receivers Marcus Green and Marken Michel on the practice squad. All three have shown potential in their time with the Eagles with Green being the only of the three who did not play in the preseason for the Eagles.