Sanders still wants more after career game and milestone

 

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Miles Sanders was happy to cross the 1,000 rushing yards threshold for the first time in his career on Sunday afternoon.

He really was.

He thanked God, his coaches and his O-line. But he doesn’t want you to get it twisted.

"Ain’t done yet,” Sanders said. "It’s a great accomplishment, long time coming. But ain’t done yet.”

In the Eagles’ 48-22 blowout win over the Giants on Sunday at MetLife Stadium, Sanders had 17 carries for a career-high 144 yards and 2 touchdowns. He broke his previous career high of 143 set a couple weeks ago.

He entered the game just 76 yards shy of his first 1,000-yard season and cruised past that milestone and eventually punched home a 40-yard exclamation mark of a touchdown in the fourth quarter. He even reached 20.88 mph on that run.

"He’s running the ball really well, hitting the hole,” Jalen Hurts said. "Showing up when his number’s called. I think, you know how this offense is – he’s played a really big role in that, being able to show up in the moments he has.”

Through 13 games, Sanders has 1,068 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns. It’s the first 1,000-yard rushing season from an Eagle since LeSean McCoy in 2014 and it’s the first 10-TD season from an Eagles running back since Shady in 2011.

So what means more to Sanders, the yards or the touchdowns?

"Super Bowl,” Sanders responded.

OK then.

That was Sanders’ way of saying that the individual accomplishments wouldn’t mean nearly as much without team success. And the Eagles are 12-1 after Week 14, they’ve already clinched a playoff berth and are inching their way toward the No. 1 seed in the NFC.

And Sanders has been a big reason why.

It’s not that Sanders hasn’t always been talented. He was a second-round pick out of Penn State back in 2019 for a reason and averaged well over 5 yards per carry over the last two seasons. But he just couldn’t stay healthy. Sanders missed nine games over the previous two years because of various ailments and that 1,000-yard mark eluded him.

But this season — knock on wood — Sanders is healthy and running better than he ever has. He’s been more decisive. He’s been running harder. He’s been doing everything the Eagles have asked of him week in and week out. And he’s been putting in extra time in the training room even when he doesn’t need to be there.

"He’s always had the ability, I feel like he’s always done well,” right tackle Lane Johnson said. "It feels like every game he starts off well, he’s confident, he works hard, he’s maturing. It’s exciting. I love when everybody is making big yards.”

Head coach Nick Sirianni said Sanders would be getting a game ball after this latest performance and it’s well-deserved.

In addition to his rushing yards on Sunday, Sanders caught an 11-yard pass and nearly had another. And his devastating lead block for Hurts in the third quarter fired up Sanders more than we’ve ever seen.

He explained after the game why that was:

"Ah man,” Sanders said with a smile. "I had a plan to yell like the Waterboy because I was mic’d up today and I hope y’all hear it. That’s exactly what went on.”

Sanders is having a career season in Year 4 and has likely already earned himself some serious money in his contract season. He’ll be a free agent after the 2022 season but he didn’t want to talk about any of that in the wake of Sunday’s win.

"Oh I ain’t worried about that,” Sanders said. "That’s going to come. I don’t want to talk about it.”

Sanders has already seen career marks in yards (1,068) and touchdowns (11) this season. And this comes after career lows in both (754/0) last season.

The Eagles were very aware that Sanders came into this game just 76 yards shy of a pretty important milestone for running backs. And even though Sanders said he wasn’t aware of it until the end of the game, that’s hard to believe.

"That’s my dawg,” fellow running back Kenny Gainwell said. "I said it to him on the field, ‘You got 2 more yards, you gotta go get it.’ And he went and got it. Oh yeah, we all knew where he was.”

Sanders didn’t just cross the 1,000-yard mark. He left it in his dust along with plenty of Giants defenders.

The Eagles clinched a playoff berth with their win on Sunday but just like Sanders hitting 1,000 yards … they hope they’re far from finished.

"That’s big. Big. But we not done,” Sanders said. "We got more stuff that we want to do and we got four more games to do it.”

https://www.nbcsports.com/philadelphia/eagles/eagles-miles-sanders-still-wants-more-after-career-game-and-milestone

This team has a great opportunity this year to go and win a ring. And Sanders know he probably won't be back with this team next year so I'm sure he wants to go and seize that opportunity.