What Zach Ertz learned from Jay Wright

Zach Ertz has a blog, and the latest entry talks about his off-season in Philadelphia -- what restaurants he likes, how much he enjoys rooting for the other pro teams in town, and how he and his fiance, Julie Johnston of the U.S. women's national soccer team, are pretty much video-bingeing couch potatoes.

He also talked about what he learned from Villanova coach Jay Wright, when Wright spoke to the Eagles following the Wildcats' winning of the NCAA championship.

And so:

"One of the things that kind of stood out when he spoke was how Nova dealt with some down years. After they got to the Final Four in 2009, they kind of changed their program a little bit and they weren't successful for a few years. They realized why they weren't successful, so they went back, and changed the process. They focused on getting the guys that fit Villanova, guys that Coach Wright knew he could mold into the players that he wanted on his team.

"Not long after, they're out there winning the National Championship.

"That really stuck with me. I look at it as a lesson in life: When you have a little bit of success, it's not a time to go out there and change the process. It's a time to stick to what works, and really try to improve on it.

"It was very applicable to what we're doing. Obviously, we've had a lot of turnover these past couple of years. But I think the team, the guys and the character of the guys we have on this team right now will to allow us to build for the next 10 years."

If you were going to attempt to draw the parallel, this might be it: that the Eagles did it one way under Andy Reid/Joe Banner/Howie Roseman and achieved a lot of success before the inevitable decline, and then did it a completely different way under Chip Kelly with mixed results, and are now going back to the old ways under Doug Pederson and Roseman, who has returned from exile.

It makes for a good narrative. Whether or not it is true has yet to be determined.