Bye week valuable for Ertz

PHILADELPHIA — In five seasons with the Eagles, Zach Ertz has had seven different quarterbacks — including one on his second go around with the team.

“It’s definitely crazy ... the quarterback room has been kind of a shuffleboard, per se,” the Eagles tight end said Wednesday. “It’s kind of been in and out.

“When Nick (Foles) got traded for Sam (Bradford), obviously everyone was shocked. And when we drafted Carson (Wentz) and then Sam got traded, everyone was shocked. But I think now with Carson and Nick, the stability of that room is going to be here for a long time. (Third stringer) Nate Sudfeld is a guy we’re really excited about, too.”

Having a bye week before the playoffs began was a blessing for the Eagles, said Ertz. It gave the pass catchers an extra week to develop some chemistry with Foles, who took over from the injured in mid-December.

“I think something that got lost in the shuffle is that Nick never had a training camp,” said Ertz. "He was hurt pretty much the whole pre-season, he didn’t play a pre-season game. He was here in the off-season but the focus from our perspective was getting on the same page with Carson. When Carson went down, the focus was kind of jamming everything into getting on the same page with Nick. It’s not easy to do that, especially when defensive schemes are changing every week.

“The bye week was huge for us. We have two very, very intense practices.”