Philadelphia Eagles: Ya boy (Miles Sanders) is (almost) back!!

Normally, teams don’t get better when they lose one of their better players.

Sure, occasionally you’ll see a situation where an incumbent vet goes down, and a young, plucky upstart takes over their spot and runs with it – the Drew Bledsoe/Tom Brady situation may be the most famous example – but for the most part, teams give their best players the most playing time whenever possible.

And yet, when Miles Sanders went down, the Philadelphia Eagles‘ rushing offense came to life in a magical way.

Gone were the days where Jalen Hurts led the team in rushing attempts in every single game, and in its place came a new, balanced attack that worked very well against both the Detroit Lions and the Los Angeles Chargers.

But why? Is it because Boston Scott, Kenneth Gainwell, and Jordan Howard, the man of the week, are simply better fits in Nick Sirianni’s offense? Or could it be that the rookie head coach has finally accepted that you can’t win games by throwing the ball 50 times a game with a second-year quarterback and an ultra young receiving corps?

Fortunately for everyone involved, it’s the latter, which means that when Sanders returns, he’ll be the featured back in a new-look offense that appreciates the run and will lean on it to set up the pass, not the other way around.

And if some recent social media activity from the man called Boobie is of any indication, it would appear we might see Sanders back on the field in the not too distant future.

The Philadelphia Eagles may get Miles Sanders back in time for Saints week.

Miles Sanders may be the Philadelphia Eagles’ most dynamic offensive weapon.

While he’s not the fastest, strongest, or most consistent yards getter employed by the Eagles – those honors belong to Quez Watkins, Dallas Goedert, and DeVonta Smith, respectively- there isn’t another player on the Eagles’ roster with as many 50-plus yard plays than the pride of Penn State University.

And the best part? Very few of Sanders’ big plays are by design.

No, Sanders is a prototypical slot machine back, who will occasionally come up empty because he gets too cute with his horizontal rushes, but has the potential to rip off a jackpot run on any given play. With smooth hips and cuts that would make LeSean McCoy proud, if Sanders can break an ankle or two, it could lead to a quick six points mere moments later.

Do you know what this particular Eagles offense is in desperate need of? Big plays.

Through the first nine weeks of the 2021 NFL season, the Eagles only have three plays of 40 or more yards from scrimmage, all three of which belong to connections between Jalen Hurts and Watkins.

That is very bad.

In only 35 games of action, Sanders has already hit that mark on seven separate occasions, including a particularly sweet stretch in 2020 when he ripped off 74-yard runs in two straight weeks.

That is very good.

If you give him enough attempts to get something going, he has about as good a chance as any player in the roster to record a big play and put points on the board.

The only problem? Even if Sanders is “back,” he can’t technically be activated off of IR until after the Eagles’ Week 10 bout against the Denver Broncos; a bout where Denver will be without offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur.

Will Miles Sanders revolutionize the Philadelphia Eagles’ offense when he returns to the field in Week 11 (or later)? Probably not. Even if Sanders is unquestionably the team’s best rusher, he can only put in as much work as Nick Sirianni allows him, which will probably be closer to 10 than 20. But even if his workload isn’t quite as expensive as he may like, getting Sanders’ big play-ability back into the offense could unlock some home run-hitting potential and prevent the offense from becoming too one-dimensional.