Miles Sanders Gives Big Hint on Eagles Offense
PHILADELPHIA - The Eagles finished installing Nick Sirianni’s entire offense on Thursday.
After a players’ day off Friday, the "Full Monty" was on display Saturday morning and the premiere was not exactly an auspicious one.
Jonathan Gannon’s defense, which has looked like the better side of the football for Philadelphia pretty consistently through the first nine practice days of training camp, kicked it up a notch on Saturday morning performing like a fantasy combination of The Steel Curtain, The Purple People Eaters, and the Fearsome Foursome.
A PBU parade, along with a brilliant Eric Wilson interception where he smartly baited a flushing Jalen Hurts, and a pick-six by third-string cornerback Lavert Hill were the highlights.
The offense, meanwhile, was left celebrating 3rd-and-5 conversions and the occasional “win” during one-on-one drills.
There is context to all of that which should give you pause before hitting the panic button.
There was significant upheaval on the offensive line as Jeff Stouland ramped up cross-training efforts, giving opportunities to Sua Opeta and Jack Driscoll at guard in place of Nate Herbig, who got second-team snaps at center, and Matt Pryor, who lined up with the backups at right tackle.
Jack Driscoll
Ed Kracz/SI.com Eagle Maven
And remember none of those four are actually scheduled to be on the field on Sept. 12 in Atlanta where it will be Brandon Brooks and Isaac Seumalo, very good players who are currently sitting out while nursing hamstring injuries.
The receivers also struggled to get separation without first-round pick DeVonta Smith (sprained MCL) and second-year wideout John Hightower (groin).
Now that Sirianni’s offense has been installed, there is still no clear default setting to those watching but running back Miles Sanders gave us perhaps the best hint on what it’s supposed to be.
“It’s very similar to college, just switching from a pro-style to an RPO offense,” Sanders said. “Just getting back to that feeling. I love it. Just getting our athletes into space, and getting one-on-one matchups with certain players.
"Just allowing us to be who we are. That’s what I love about it.”
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Sirianni has continually expressed that his offense will be based upon the strengths of the players he has and not some preconceived scheme.
It’s also abundantly clear that Hurts is not the type of QB who can stick his back foot in the ground and throw the football accurately on a consistent basis right now so taking advantage of his running ability with more RPO concepts seems like the only path.
Sirianni also trumpeted Brian Johnson’s expertise in modern college concepts when he hired the former University of Florida offensive coordinator to work with Hurts as the Eagles' QB coach.
"We hired a college offensive coordinator Tom Manning [in Indianapolis], and the things that he brought to us to open up our offense a little bit more, really that we still run to this day, really helped us become harder to defend," Sirianni said when he tabbed Johnson.
Sirianni projects Johnson, who once recruited Hurts when the QB coach was at Mississippi State, to have a similar influence on the Eagles offense.
"I see Brian as that same (type of coach)," Sirianni said. "You know again Brian, great human being, great person. Great, fundamentally, great scheme-wise, he's just super sharp.”
On the field, most observers are trying to feel their way when trying to figure out Siranni’s vision.
Off of it, Sanders laid out the bread crumbs for what to expect with Hurts under center.
“We have a pretty good defense, the RB said. “So getting those looks and those types of situations every day is good for us. We’re just competing every day. It’s really nothing bad going on with the offense. It’s just we’re competing against a very tough defense, and I believe that. They’re just getting us better every day.”
John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's EagleMaven and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody McDonald every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on both PhillyVoice.com and YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Extending the Play" on AM1490 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Eagle Maven and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglemaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.
