Is Sanders really that bad, Wentz's quote and more in Roob's Eagles observations

[time2rock]

Is Sanders really that bad, Wentz's quote and more in Roob's Eagles observations

 

Is Miles Sanders ranked fairly? What have Joe Flacco and Ron Jaworski done that no other quarterback has ever done? And celebrating Carson Wentz's "new passion for the game."

It's all here in a July 4 weekend edition of Roob's random Eagles offseason observations! 

1. My first reaction when I saw that Pro Football Focus had ranked Sanders as the 19th-best running back in the NFL was surprised. He’s gotta be higher than that! Then I started really looking a little deeper into it, and I realized that actually is just about the right place for him.

The potential is there for him to be a top-10 back and you hope he can be more consistent this year with presumably the offense operating at a more efficient level, a healthier O-line in front of him and more balanced play-calling. But the reality is that Sanders’ 2020 season was marked by inconsistency, fumbles, dropped passes and injuries, and if he’s going to be a top-10 player, he has to get past all that and perform at a high level every week.

Sanders is only signed through 2022, so we’re getting close to the point where the Eagles will have to make a decision about him. This year is going to answer a lot of those questions. 

2. I read where Wentz has a "new passion for the game.” So he wasn’t passionate about football last year when the Eagles were paying him $32 million per year? 

3. This is crazy: The last Eagles QB-WR duo that connected on at least 20 touchdown passes was Donovan McNabb and Terrell Owens. Despite playing only 21 games together, they connected on 20 TD passes. And they hated each other for a third of those 21 games!

The last QB-WR combo before them to connect on 20 passing touchdowns was Randall Cunningham to Calvin Williams, with 21.

Can you imagine what these two would have accomplished together if they had just gotten along?

4. I think about Ryan Mathews a lot. Talented kid. Averaged 4.6 yards per carry in his two years as an Eagle — that’s fourth highest in franchise history by a running back (minimum 250 carries), and in 2016 he scored nine TDs in just 13 games before suffering what was initially called a stinger and was eventually diagnosed as a herniated disc. Mathews underwent surgery and was out of the league at 29. He was never in another training camp, never worked out for another team as far as I know, has never been on social media, hasn’t done an interview since he retired, isn’t coaching anywhere. It’s like he just disappeared off the face of the Earth.

Mathews is one of only eight NFL players since 1950 who played his final season in his 20s and scored at least nine TDs in his final season. He never said much, rarely spoke to the media, but he always ran the ball ferociously hard. Never avoided contact. Played every snap like he had something to prove. That’s admirable but it probably cost him several years of his career. Wherever he is, I hope he’s doing OK.

5. Jake Elliott is the only kicker in history to make two 40-yard field goals in a fourth quarter of a Super Bowl. Since he made those kicks as a rookie — from 42 and 46 yards — he’s made only 21 of 32 field goal attempts from 40 yards and out. That’s 65.6 percent and that’s worst of the 17 NFL kickers who’ve attempted at least 32 40-yarders.

6. I’m super curious about Landon Dickerson. He could either go down in history as an injury-prone total waste of a second-round pick disaster or he could become a Pro Bowl interior lineman for the next decade. And nobody has any idea which way this will go. The only thing that would surprise me is if Dickerson doesn’t start at least a few games at some point this year. Who knows where, but the way this team has been decimated by injuries the last few years, it’s hard to imagine the interior of the O-line staying intact for 17 games, especially at their age. You hope nobody gets hurt, but does anybody really expect that? 

7. It’s been 14 years since a player the Eagles drafted had an interception in the playoffs. It was 2002 second-round pick Sheldon Brown in 2007 against the Giants.

8. Reading about Ernie Steele over the past few days makes me wonder why he’s not in the Eagles Hall of Fame. Steele spent the 1942 through 1948 seasons with the Eagles, rushed for 1,337 yards with a 5.2 average, caught 31 passes for 520 yards for a 16.8 average, scored 17 touchdowns, had 24 interceptions, averaged 14.7 yards on 55 punt returns and 20.1 yards on 37 kick returns. The 14.7 punt return figure is highest in NFL history (minimum 50 returns) by more than a half a yard.

Steele is the Eagles' record holder among running backs in rushing average, he’s the franchise record holder in punt return average and he’s eighth in interceptions. He’s one of three players in NFL history with 1,000 rushing yards, 500 receiving yards and 20 interceptions (all played in the 1940s), and his 5.2 average is highest of those three. Not only that, his fourth-quarter interception clinched the 1948 NFL Championship Game — the last game he ever played. Let's get this guy in the Eagles Hall of Fame! 

9. Jalen Hurts stat of the week: Hurts averaged 13.8 yards per pass last year and 5.6 yards per rush. He became the first rookie in 73 years to average 13.8 and 5.6 (minimum 100 passing attempts, 50 rushing attempts). 

10. Flacco was at Jaworski’s charity golf tournament last weekend in Egg Harbor City. If they wanted to, they could have compared notes because they’re the only quarterbacks in NFL history to win a playoff game despite a passer rating below 15. Jaws had a rating of 12.3 when the Eagles beat the Cowboys in the 1980 NFC Championship Game, and Flacco had a rating of 10.0 when the Ravens beat the Patriots in the 2009 wild-card round.

https://www.nbcsports.com/philadelphia/eagles/roobs-eagles-observations-miles-sanders-spot-nfl-running-back-rankings-and-more?fbclid=IwAR3M8R27UQrF9-GPKjKnPp21WTXutmlXvdFVVEczyZm7obmo2E-TNE0JAPc

 

[vaff]

It’s kinda weird that he thinks about Ryan Mathews a lot.

[UK_EaglesFan89]

Sanders is definitely higher than the 19th ranked RB. I think he can knock on the door of the top 10 for sure. 

He's a dual threat RB that may well see an increased role under Sirianni. 

Last year didn't quite go as planned for Miles. He had a decent year in terms of the run game but regressed from his rookie year in the pass game. 

Some of that may well be on Carson. The screen game under Carson was awful even when Carson was playing at a high level. So i think we will see a lot more of those RB back field catches this year under Sirianni. 

[time2rock]

4 hours ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

Sanders is definitely higher than the 19th ranked RB. I think he can knock on the door of the top 10 for sure. 

He's a dual threat RB that may well see an increased role under Sirianni. 

Last year didn't quite go as planned for Miles. He had a decent year in terms of the run game but regressed from his rookie year in the pass game. 

Some of that may well be on Carson. The screen game under Carson was awful even when Carson was playing at a high level. So i think we will see a lot more of those RB back field catches this year under Sirianni. 

You really have to ignore / exclude last year from any evaluations ... that not only goes for Sanders but for all players on the roster.  This team was such a flustercluck from top (including coaching) to bottom that really makes it difficult to make an evaluation on what any of the players can do.  Looking forward to seeing them with a clean slate.  

[Cochis_Calhoun]

On 7/11/2021 at 9:16 AM, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

Sanders is definitely higher than the 19th ranked RB. I think he can knock on the door of the top 10 for sure. 

He's a dual threat RB that may well see an increased role under Sirianni. 

Last year didn't quite go as planned for Miles. He had a decent year in terms of the run game but regressed from his rookie year in the pass game. 

Some of that may well be on Carson. The screen game under Carson was awful even when Carson was playing at a high level. So i think we will see a lot more of those RB back field catches this year under Sirianni. 

Henry, Cook, Chubb, Montgomery, Jacobs, Aaron Jones, Robinson, Taylor, Zeke, Gordon, Kamara, Ronald Jones and Drake all put up more rushing yards than Sanders, you can add healthy Sacquon and McCaffrey to the list of players that are a better runner, then you have guys like Kareem Hunt who put up almost as many receiving TD's as rushing TD's, Ekeler and Carson both make the PFF list ahead of Sanders and you could argue the toss there, Ekeler isn't a stellar runner although he has way better hands as a receiver, Carson had a down year last year, if both return to 2019 form they both got more scrimmage yards than 2019 Sanders.

As bad as Wentz was last year Sanders muffed some easy catches too, so lets not pretend that the PFF ranking of 19th is completely outlandish, like Roob says 2022 is his contract year, he does need to start showing he can be the guy sooner rather than later, his ypc is absolutely fine his problem is I'm not sure he's ever going to be a 200+ carry back, and if Gainwell starts to eat into his receiving snaps he could be expendable when his contract comes up.

[UK_EaglesFan89]

16 hours ago, Cochis_Calhoun said:

As bad as Wentz was last year Sanders muffed some easy catches too, so lets not pretend that the PFF ranking of 19th is completely outlandish, like Roob says 2022 is his contract year, he does need to start showing he can be the guy sooner rather than later, his ypc is absolutely fine his problem is I'm not sure he's ever going to be a 200+ carry back, and if Gainwell starts to eat into his receiving snaps he could be expendable when his contract comes up.

I don't think he's going to get a contract here. I mean maybe he will because maybe the contract will be favourable to the team but I wouldn't be at all surprised if they didn't give him a new deal. They certainly aren't going to give him a big RB contract to keep him.

[time2rock]

6 hours ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

I don't think he's going to get a contract here. I mean maybe he will because maybe the contract will be favourable to the team but I wouldn't be at all surprised if they didn't give him a new deal. They certainly aren't going to give him a big RB contract to keep him.

I’ve thought for quite some time now that RB isn’t a position you invest big $ on.  Draft one, play the hell outta him for 4 years, then draft another.  Lather, rinse, repeat.  We drafted Gainwell this year … I think he replaces Sanders (assuming be demonstrates the ability to be a capable RB).  

[Cochis_Calhoun]

On 7/13/2021 at 8:10 AM, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

I don't think he's going to get a contract here. I mean maybe he will because maybe the contract will be favourable to the team but I wouldn't be at all surprised if they didn't give him a new deal. They certainly aren't going to give him a big RB contract to keep him.

I think if he were to play full seasons and get up to 1500 scrimmage yards and 8-10TD's a year for the remaining 2 years of his rookie deal, they absolutely would invest in another contract, I just don't see it happening

[UK_EaglesFan89]

On 7/13/2021 at 2:42 PM, time2rock said:

I’ve thought for quite some time now that RB isn’t a position you invest big $ on.  Draft one, play the hell outta him for 4 years, then draft another.  Lather, rinse, repeat.  We drafted Gainwell this year … I think he replaces Sanders (assuming be demonstrates the ability to be a capable RB).  

I think the problem with Sanders, and where I'm undecided if he'll get a new contract, is that we haven't played the hell out of him. He's missed games due to injury. His rookie year he shared carries with Howard for a few weeks. Last year there was still the rotation. And so he doesn't have as much tread on the tyres. And he didn't in college either. 

[UK_EaglesFan89]

21 hours ago, Cochis_Calhoun said:

I think if he were to play full seasons and get up to 1500 scrimmage yards and 8-10TD's a year for the remaining 2 years of his rookie deal, they absolutely would invest in another contract, I just don't see it happening

But by then how much tread does he have on the tyres? And what kind of contract does he ask for? That's the issue. 

[time2rock]

3 hours ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

I think the problem with Sanders, and where I'm undecided if he'll get a new contract, is that we haven't played the hell out of him. He's missed games due to injury. His rookie year he shared carries with Howard for a few weeks. Last year there was still the rotation. And so he doesn't have as much tread on the tyres. And he didn't in college either. 

I don't disagree with any of that ... I just don't think that ("that" being the fact that they haven't played him as much as they could or should have) forces you to sway from a philosophy of not paying big $ to a RB (note:  not saying the Eagles share the same POV as me regarding RBs ... that's the philosophy I'd like to see them follow but doesn't mean they intend to).  

[UK_EaglesFan89]

On 7/15/2021 at 12:24 PM, time2rock said:

I don't disagree with any of that ... I just don't think that ("that" being the fact that they haven't played him as much as they could or should have) forces you to sway from a philosophy of not paying big $ to a RB (note:  not saying the Eagles share the same POV as me regarding RBs ... that's the philosophy I'd like to see them follow but doesn't mean they intend to).  

But then if they haven't played him as much as they could or should have then there's perhaps a reason for that? Maybe they don't think he can carry the load? And if he can't then he shouldn't get top money. But let's see what Sirianni thinks of him.