RB By Committee

Posted: September 9th, 2019 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 2 Comments »

No Eagles RB ran for 50 yards on Sunday, but the team had 31 carries for 123 yards. That’s a good overall day for the team. The running back by committee approach has worked throughout the Doug Pederson era and is off to a good start in 2019.

Darren Sproles got the majority of touches and I’ve got issues with that, but let’s talk about the new guys first. Jordan Howard impressed the heck out of me. He was 6-44 on the ground and added yards after contact on every single run. It was fun to watch him finish. Defenders would arrive and initiate contact. Howard just kept going until they put him on the ground. You have to love tough running like that. Great effort.

Howard showed vision and okay speed. He had 2 catches for 11 yards. That was a good debut for the former Bear. I think we’ll enjoy watching him this season.

Miles Sanders was 11-25 on the ground. The numbers don’t tell the story.

The Eagles haven’t had a RB who could move like that since LeSean McCoy. I’m not saying Sanders is Shady, but he’s got great wheels and that’s something the Eagles have needed in the backfield for a while. There was a TD run later on that got wiped out by a penalty. Sanders showed burst/speed on that run as well. He is going to be a difference-maker for the Eagles. You need chunk plays and Sanders has the ability to make them.

He did catch one pass. There was an almost-fumble, but Sanders got control of the ball before he was hit. That was an odd exchange between he and Wentz. It looked like Wentz may have put the ball too far into his arms, but I don’t know how the coaches will grade that.

One area where Sanders stood out was in pass protection. He made several good blocks to keep his QB clean. That is essential for any RB, but especially a rookie. He’s got to earn the trust of the QB and his coach. Sanders surely did just that.

Back to Sproles. He was 9-47 on the ground and 3-16 as a receiver. Several of his plays did work well. But go back and re-watch them. The blocking was good. The plays worked for more reasons than just Sproles. I appreciate him as a role player, but I think he got too many touches.

I was impressed with him as a punt returner, where he averaged 11.5 yards per return.

We’ll see what the coaches do moving forward. I hope they feed the ball more to Howard and Sanders, while mixing in Sproles.

Corey Clement only had three snaps on offense. His time will come down the road.

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2 Comments on “RB By Committee”

  1. 1 Eagles News: The case for more Jordan Howard carries - Sportz Newz said at 10:27 PM on September 9th, 2019:

    […] RB By Committee – Iggles BlitzThe Eagles haven’t had a RB who could move like that since LeSean McCoy. I’m not saying Sanders is Shady, but he’s got great wheels and that’s something the Eagles have needed in the backfield for a while. There was a TD run later on that got wiped out by a penalty. Sanders showed burst/speed on that run as well. He is going to be a difference-maker for the Eagles. You need chunk plays and Sanders has the ability to make them. He did catch one pass. There was an almost-fumble, but Sanders got control of the ball before he was hit. That was an odd exchange between he and Wentz. It looked like Wentz may have put the ball too far into his arms, but I don’t know how the coaches will grade that. […]

  2. 2 Eagles News: The case for more Jordan Howard carries – Bleeding Green Nation – VIP Sports said at 9:39 AM on September 10th, 2019:

    […] RB By Committee – Iggles BlitzThe Eagles haven’t had a RB who could move like that since LeSean McCoy. I’m not saying Sanders is Shady, but he’s got great wheels and that’s something the Eagles have needed in the backfield for a while. There was a TD run later on that got wiped out by a penalty. Sanders showed burst/speed on that run as well. He is going to be a difference-maker for the Eagles. You need chunk plays and Sanders has the ability to make them. He did catch one pass. There was an almost-fumble, but Sanders got control of the ball before he was hit. That was an odd exchange between he and Wentz. It looked like Wentz may have put the ball too far into his arms, but I don’t know how the coaches will grade that. […]