Miles Sanders' Career-Day Pushes Eagles to 4-0
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PHILADELPHIA – Miles Sanders was the first one to the postgame interview. He was still wearing his rain-soaked, No. 26 uniform.
“You hear that party going on in there?” he said, referencing the loud music and voices coming from just down the hall in the Eagles’ locker room after they came from 14 points down to beat the Jacksonville Jaguars, 29-21, in monsoon-like conditions at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday.
the Eagles are 4-0, and what does that mean to Sanders?
"I’m excited as heck," he said. "I’ve never been 2-0, never been 3-0 here. But the best thing about being 4-0 is being able to be 5-0."
Sanders had a career day. His 134 yards rushing beat the career-best of 131 he set last year on Dec. 21 against Washington, and his 27 carries were there more than his previous high of 24 on Dec. 5, 2021, vs, the Jets.
His two touchdowns, from 10 and 5 yards, tied a career-high.
All of this happened against the league’s top-ranked rush defense, which had shut down the Colt’ Jonathan Taylor and the Chargers’ Austin Ekeler as the Jaguars won their last two games. The defense had only given up an average of 55 yards per game on the ground.
Sanders torched that.
“Definitely getting in the groove – my job is to be ready whenever they call my number,” said Sanders. “
“Whenever they call my number, I’m going to be ready, regardless. With the weather being the way it was, we leaned on our offensive line, and our offensive line had a heck of a game.”
Yes, it did.
It even overcame two injures along the way, with left tackle Jordan Mailata leaving in the first quarter with a shoulder injury then right guard Isaac Seumalo departing with an ankle injury in the second half. Jack Driscoll and Sua Opeta stepped in and the line never stopped gashing the Jaguars’ vaunted run defense.
As a team, the Eagle ran for 210 yards.
Jalen Hurts chipped in 38, Kenny Gainwell had 19, and even Trey Sermon made his Eagles debut with one carry for 14 yards.
The Eagles ran the ball 50 times.
“It really doesn’t matter who we’re playing,” said left guard Landon Dickerson. “We’re going to execute the game plan that needs to be done. We don’t really look to care about what our opponent does. Whatever they’re ranked, we’re going to do what we need to do to play at a high level and execute.”
Maybe the best thing Sanders did was not fumble the ball.
Ask Trevor Lawrence about that. The Jaguars QB fumbled four times. He had five turnovers when you count the ired-zone interception he threw to James Bradberry.
Eagle center Jason Kelce called the weather a “train wreck.”
“I was very anxious every time I grabbed the ball (Sunday),” he said.
Not Sanders. He skimmed over puddle after puddle holding tightly to the ball each time.
His teammates noticed.
“Miles ran really hard (Sunday), Miles protected the ball (Sunday); everybody protected,” said quarterback Jalen Hurts.
“He made plays. You saw him run the diagonal route, cutting across the field, I mean he played angry in my opinion. He played with a purpose. He deserved it. He played a helluva game.”
Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Fan Nation Eagles Today and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglesmaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.
