Seeing an Eagles legend on the opposing sidelines twice could be gut-wrenching

The Philadelphia Eagles' schedule gets more intriguing every time we look at it. There are the games versus the AFC North and NFC South. There is a road date in Los Angeles. There's even a game in Brazil.

We have glanced at the schedule from time to time, seemingly every five or six hours or so. We keep landing at a 13-4 regular-season record. We could be wrong, but anything less than success and a deep playoff run is unacceptable.

We have discussed difficult stretches. We have thought about backstories and unique angles. We have even brought up Saquon Barkley's two-game revenge tour. That made us think about Zach Ertz.

A franchise legend, we never think about Zach without thinking about him diving in the end zone to put the Eagles ahead of the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII for good. Still, he hasn't played a game in an Eagles jersey since Week 6 of 2021.

Philly has played him once as the adversary. That was Week 5 of the 2022 season. He snagged six receptions for 48 yards in that one, but the right team won. The Eagles toppled the Arizona Cardinals thanks to a last-second field goal.

The Birds face their old friend twice this season. Things will seem stranger this time around. This time Zach will be the rival. He joined the Washington Commanders on March 12th.

Zach Ertz comes home along with his Commanders teammates to battle the Eagles in primetime Thursday, November 14th.

They say time heals all wounds. That isn't true. Time heals many wounds, but time also makes us more of what we already were: angry, bitter, and sad.

Zach has been gone for a while, and we still get sick sometimes when we think about it. He left Philly a Super Bowl hero and a three-time Pro Bowler. He cried during his farewell presser. Heck... We cried too. Sure, football is a business, but that just felt weird.

Seeing him in other jerseys feels just as weird though. He'll return to retire as an Eagle one day, but that may take a while. In the meantime, he has joined a division rival, one the Birds will battle twice this season as they always do.

Frankly, we don't know how we feel about that. Seeing him in that blood-red Cardinals jersey was bad enough. Seeing him in Washington Commanders gear will be worse, much worse.

The first Eagles vs Commanders game will be played in primetime on November 14th. Thursday Night Football provides the backdrop. Philly then visits FedEx Field to tackle the Commanders five weeks later in Week 16. That one doubles as a 1 pm EST start.

Occasionally, it happens. We have seen Randall Cunningham, Jason Peters, and Harold Carmichael all wear Dallas Cowboys jerseys. All of those times we felt weird. Sure, this isn't as weird as that. It also isn't as extreme. It still hurts though. We'll say it if no one else does. We miss you Zach! You'll always be an Eagle.

Oh, and by the way... Though they aren't franchise legends, Marcus Mariota and Olamide Zaccheaus are on that Commanders' roster too. Zach's deal is of the one-year variety. We'll see what happens when he reaches its conclusion.

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