I believe Nick Sirianni is going to observe the long time football rule that when you win a starting job and you return from an injury you get your starting job back. I’ve seen coaches say that they’re going to coach by that rule but in certain circumstances they ignore the rule. We all remember and know what happened with Tom Brady and that the opportunity he got because of an injury to Drew Bledsoe.
I do think Miles Sanders is going to be the starter going forward but that doesn’t mean he is going to be the one out there playing all the time. He’s not going to be out there in every situation and It doesn’t mean he’s going to be the starter if he’s not playing well. Sanders is going to have to change his style of running a bit. Sometimes he dances too much. He’s going to need to be a more decisive runner. He will have to be a downhill runner, who puts his foot in the ground and then gets north and south when he sees a hole, in the same way Boston Scott and Jordan Howard have been running in the last few games..
They are leading the league in rushing, so there’s tremendous pressure on Sanders to eliminate all the dancing in order to get north and south when he’s carrying the football. Sirianni has taken a while to realize that the strength of his football team is in running the football, so that cannot change because Sanders is in the lineup. I also don’t think it would be fair to blame Sanders for why Sirianni wasn’t running the ball earlier in the season.
The Penn State product can’t be looking for the big play all the time because that will mean defenses will trap him in the backfield for losses at times and that will kill drives. The Eagles offensive line has been blocking well and that has allowed the Eagles to put together long drives. You develop a consistent running game when the running backs see a gap and take it. They don’t try to take every play outside in hopes of breaking a long run. The running backs can’t always be looking for the 60 and 70 yard run and Sanders must have this mentality. .
We know that he is capable of taking it to the house on any play, but that isn’t the way you play to win. He can’t run like that when he gets the ball against the New Orleans Saints, who lead the NFL in defending the run. If he dances against New Orleans he will lose yardage too many times and stall drives. It will put pressure on Sirianni to take him out of the game.
He had better put his foot in the ground and get north and south or he will be back on the bench. and I don’t think he’s going to be out there when they are trying to throw the ball any way. I think rookie Kenneth Gainwell and Scott have shown that they do a better job of catching the ball out of the backfield.
Sanders can thrive behind this line but he’s got to be thinking, “NO DANCING”!!! You look for a hole when you see a hole, you hit that hole and get north and south. You get what is there. That’s the motto and mentality that Scott and Howard have been running by, GET WHAT IS THERE!!! If Sanders starts dancing, he will probably be playing his last games as an Eagle.
