Nick Sirianni Reiterates that Miles Sanders "is Our Guy"
Minor kerfuffle at Eagles camp this weekend, maybe a 1.9 on a scale of 10, but long story short, Miles Sanders was taking reps with the 2nd unit on Friday. Beat writers in attendance made the observation and shared it in some stories, which resulted in Saturday follow up questions with both Sanders and head coach Nick Sirianni, the latter of whom straightened things out:
Q. It looked like RB Miles Sanders took all of his work with the twos (Friday). Is there a particular reason for that? (Zach Berman)
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, I don’t know where that came from. Our backs rotate.
Those first three backs – Kenny [Gainwell] and Miles and Boston [Scott] – they rotate three plays in and out for the first two sessions of the period. So, the period is split into three areas – ones, twos, threes – and those three guys rotate that area.
Miles is our guy. Whether it was the way that the reps worked out (Friday) that he was in a couple more – obviously (the public relations staff) prepares me for these questions. I knew you guys were going to ask this question for this particular case.
But no. Just when I saw that and when (PR) made me aware of that, that was my thought. I don’t think that happened. Then it just so happened to be the way the numbers worked a little bit. But Miles was in with the ones as well and Miles is our guy.
There is no secret. Miles is our guy, and we like to rotate our backs. But he’s the guy.
Clarification there. Miles Sanders is their guy and it just sort of worked out in funky fashion on the Friday, the divvying up of reps. That’s what Sirianni is saying.
Sanders offered this:
Asked what he aims for entering his fourth season, #Eagles RB Miles Sanders said, “Get the respect I deserve.”
And what’s that look like?
“Don’t write articles about me being on the second team.”
(Apparently, there was some question about Sanders taking only the 2d reps Fri.) pic.twitter.com/o0M880nQ8d
— Jeff McLane (@Jeff_McLane) July 30, 2022
The real question here is about Miles Sanders getting “the respect” he deserves. I think people…. do respect Miles Sanders? Am I missing something here? He’s clearly the RB1 on this team. He was the lead back to open the season, and the complaint from fans early on last year was that he wasn’t getting enough touches. “Why aren’t the Eagles running the ball?” “Why is Miles Sanders only getting one touch in the first half?” You probably remember he only had nine total carries in the Dallas and KC losses, combined. He unfortunately had the injury right around the time the Birds were starting to cook with the four-headed monster approach, but there was never really a question of him being the lead ball carrier on this team. His yards-per-carry number is fantastic and he’s had some great games in an Eagles uniform. If anything, it’s people looking for him to take the next step, and go from good to great, or great to elite, or something along those lines.
But whatever. If he perceives disrespect and turns that into motivation, then motivation is a powerful tool.