Washington Commanders tight end Zach Ertz caught the game-winning touchdown on Sunday night against the Atlanta Falcons. The win improved Washington to 11-5 and clinched a playoff berth.
It has been a miracle season for the Commanders. Finishing 4-13 last season, hiring a new coaching staff, and flipping over half of the roster shouldn’t have had Washington competing for a playoff spot this season.
Thanks to a roster led by phenomenal rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels and a host of veterans, like Ertz and Bobby Wagner, Washington won 11 games for the first time since 1991. And the Commanders still have one regular-season game remaining.
Ertz explained after the game when he thought this team could be good and made a hilarious, unplanned comment regarding the New York Jets.
“It was really about guys coming together,” Ertz said. “And it didn’t happen overnight, but I did think once we got all together and I saw the talent and training camp and you go to the Jets against a team that we thought was going to be good I’d of, you can erase that [laugh]. Go against the joint practices and we felt like we were playing against some good defenses that we were going to have a chance to be good.”
Ertz was referring to the Commanders’ joint practices with the Jets. At the time, it looked like New York may have gotten the better end of those practices, but here we are, heading into Week 17, and Washington sits at 11-5, while the Jets are 4-12.
Ertz, being the pro he is, quickly returned to his comment and apologized.
“I apologize to those guys, man, that didn’t mean to come out like that, but it just felt like we had the talent to do something,” Ertz said.
Ertz said what everyone else thought: The Jets were supposed to be good.
Before the season, no one had the Commanders winning 11 games and going to the playoffs, while the Jets won four games with Aaron Rodgers.
That’s why the games are played on the field.