Despite much preseason hype, Zach Ertz and the Philadelphia Eagles tight ends have been a nonfactor in Chip Kelly's offense through the first three games.
On the night the Philadelphia Eagles chose tight end Zach Ertz out of Stanford with their second-round draft choice Chip Kelly held up three fingers when asked how he would go about getting three tight ends on the field at the same time.
"It's simple," Kelly said that April evening. "I put my three fingers up like this and three tight ends go into the game."
Yet as the season officially rounds the first quarter pole on Sunday afternoon at Sports Authority Field in Denver, the tight ends that seemingly were going to be focal points of Kelly's high octane offense have been little more than an afterthought.
Through three games Brent Celek and Ertz have posted four receptions apiece and James Casey has yet to register a catch.
Eight receptions for 148 yards and one touchdown a focal point does not make.
Casey had been a starter for the Houston Texans prior to signing as a free agent with the Eagles in March and hasn't seen this little playing time since his rookie season.
"I"m a little frustrated," Casey told reporters at his Novacare Complex locker on Thursday. "But you can't let that get to you. I'm going to keep working, having a great attitude about it and trying to keep getting better and helping this team win no matter what that takes. I won't be moping around or anything like that."
Still, in spite of the tight ends being a virtual nonfactor, the Eagles offense has posted strong numbers. Averaging 461.67 yards per game, the Eagles are good enough to rank second behind the Broncos and post 26.33 points per game.
"Our offense has been successful, DeSean Jackson has been great and LeSean McCoy has been rushing the ball outstanding. As tight ends we work hard and know our time will come but we just have to keep working hard. It's a young season."
While it's true that defenses can dictate the style of play of an offense, in this day and age it's the offensive side of the ball that has been setting the tone across the league.
"At the end of the day," Ertz explained. "Whatever the coaches want us to do, all three of us are going to do whatever they need us to do whether that's run blocking or running routes, that's what we'll do."
In a game that figures to be an offensive shootout Kelly will likely need all his weapons at his disposal which could make this an ideal week for the tight ends to finally break out.
It certainly will be interesting to see if this is the Sunday where Kelly puts his three fingers in the air and what impact that has on a defense when he does.
Matt Lombardo is the Editor-In-Chief of Eagledelphia and also an on-air personality on 97.5 FM The Fanatic in Philadelphia. Join the conversation and follow Matt on Twitter.
