EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Zach Ertz was having a mediocre season when he got sidelined for most of the Tampa game and all of the Detroit game with a concussion.
Sam Bradford was having an OK year when he missed the same two games with a shoulder injury.
Was this really it from Bradford and Ertz? A season of mediocrity?
“After he came back from his shoulder injury and I came back from my concussion, we didn’t want the season to end the way the two of us were playing together,” Ertz said after the Eagles' 35-30 win over the Giants on Sunday (see Instant Replay).
“We kind of came back with a vengeance. We didn’t end the season as a team the way we wanted to, but the chemistry was definitely there between the two of us.”
Bradford finished in style, completing 67 of his passes with eight touchdowns and four interceptions these last five weeks (see story).
And Ertz emerged as his favorite target and finished the season with some crazy numbers.
Over the last four weeks, Ertz caught 35 passes for 450 yards, the most yards in NFL history by a tight end over the last four weeks of any season.
He finished the season with 13 catches for 122 yards against the Redskins and 9 catches for 158 yards against the Giants, the best two-game stretch in the last 50 years by an Eagles tight end.
“That’s kind of the stuff I expect out of myself,” Ertz said. “I expect to play at a high level every week.
“Obviously, the (sports hernia) surgery in the preseason really set me back, but kind of Week 6, Week 7, I started feeling really like myself. Explosive again. My routes started coming back to me, my legs started coming back to me.
“We ended on a high note individually. As a team, it’s not where we want to be.”
Ertz finished with 75 catches for 853 yards coming off last year’s 58 catches for 702 yards.
In three NFL seasons, he has 2,030 receiving yards, 18th-most ever by a tight end in his first three years.
But the last month is what’s really exciting.
“Most passing offenses go through tight ends, that’s the new wave, and Zach is a great pass-catching tight end,” wideout Jordan Matthews said. “I’ve said that from the very beginning, when I first got here. His work ethic, his ability to go out and make tough catches.
“You have to start in there and expand it out, and I think he’s the perfect building block if you’re trying to make an offense like that. There’s only going to be better things fo him to come, you know. Similar to me.”
Over the last 20 years, Jimmy Graham, Jason Witten, Rob Gronkowski, Tony Gonzalez, Chris Cooley, Kellen Winslow and Antonio Gates are the only other tight ends with four straight games of 75 or more yards.
“The last four games is a stepping stone in the right direction,” Ertz said. “Obviously really bummed the way we finished as a team, but I definitely want to be one of those guys, elite guys, in the future.
“But I’m not going to be satisfied. I want to be mentioned as one of the best in the league, up there with guys like Gronkowski and Greg Olsen.”
Ertz finished fifth among NFL tight ends this year in yardage, but only Olsen and Witten — both with 77 — had more catches than Ertz's 75. Over the last two years combined, only four tight ends had more yards than the second-round pick from Stanford.
Teammate Lane Johnson, who came in with Ertz back in 2013, doesn't see why Ertz can't be one of the best tight ends in the league.
“There’s no question he can be (as good as anybody)," Johnson said. "I think he can catch the ball just as good as Gronkowski or anybody and he’s got a knack for getting it open. He showed it today and he’s going to show it next year."