With the Philadelphia Eagles sitting at 1-2, Miles Sanders needs to step up on Thursday when taking on the Green Bay Packers.
Back in April, the Philadelphia Eagles made an easy decision in the 2019 NFL Draft to use a second-round pick on Miles Sanders, mainly because the team was in need of extra help at the time.
When looking at all of the injuries the Eagles backfield experienced throughout the 2018 season, it was clear that Philadelphia needed to make some sort of adjustments during the offseason, and they certainly deserve credit for doing so.
Along with drafting Sanders, the Eagles earned a steal by acquiring Jordan Howard from the Chicago Bears to take advantage of the running back being in the final year of his rookie contract.
Take this into consideration with the fact that Darren Sproles decided to give it another go instead of retiring, Philadelphia seemed like they would be in much better shape at the running back position for the 2019 season
Unfortunately, the ground game hasn’t exactly been a major strength so far for the Eagles through the first three games, with Sanders himself struggling for the most part.
After combining for just 53 rushing yards over the first two games on 21 carries, Sanders did in fact step up in a big way against the Detroit Lions in Week 3 by finishing with a 126 yards from scrimmage.
But unfortunately, Sanders received plenty of criticism for two costly fumbles, and when seeing how the Eagles only lost by three points, it’s tough not to wonder what could have been in the win department.
Now that Philadelphia has lost two games in a row, the pressure will be on Thursday when the team takes on an undefeated Green Bay team that would love nothing more than to take advantage of the Eagles’ banged-up defense.
As much as Jim Schwartz wants to feel confident in being able to put together a game plan to keep Aaron Rodgers and company in check, the best chance of Philadelphia winning this game seems like it will require coming out on top of a shootout.
Looking at how great the defense of the Packers has been so far through three games, the one area that Philadelphia could expose is the run defense since Green Bay is allowing 131 rushing yards per game.
Plenty of players will need to step for the Eagles in order for the team to have a fighting chance against the Packers, and Sanders should be near the top of that list.
Redemption is always an amazing feeling for professional athletes, and after seeing the results from last weekend, hopefully Sanders can use this as motivation on Thursday when facing the Packers.