Did any of you guys notice that over the last several years when we brought in two tight ends at the goal line and ran the ball the tight ends did literally nothing for it. At least when you go three wides it gave Zeke some room to run the ball. It seemed to me that over the past several years that was a huge fail.
First, I don't know that it is true that the TE's didn't contribute. It's certain that all of us sitting on our computer today can't reasonably recall every TD run and what kind of job the TEs did blocking for it. It would take a lot of research to either confirm or deny this point.
But even so, the presence of 2 TE's means the defense has to worry about the run going over the OT/TE slot instead of just from the OT inward. And even on the outside runs for TD's, it's pretty likely the TE helped seal off a LB.
Then, there is also the fact that the TE's are a dual threat. They aren't just blockers, but receivers, and have to be defended against as such. If a defense overcommits to stopping the run he can burn them as a receiver. The TE can also be a decoy that a LB has to follow and therefore isn't available to defend against the run