The Eagles offense is one of the worst in football—27th in yardage and 30th in DVOA. The fan base has finally come to grips with the reality that Carson Wentz is average, if not mediocre (I’m taking my victory lap on this one) and to make matters worse, Doug Pederson’s play-calling is out of sorts. There’s not much going right on that side of the ball.
Except for Miles Sanders.
Yesterday I wrote that Sanders was “the ticket to save the offense,” and if the Eagles have any hope of turning things around—if Carson Wentz and Doug Pederson hope to see themselves out of the fan base/media’s crosshairs—then it’s time to turn the keys to this offense over to Sanders.
This is obvious, and has been for some time now. But the one person who has yet to realize this is the only person who matters in that decision—the head coach.
Pederson’s insistence on not feeding Sanders the ball and revolving the offense around him is baffling, and if I didn’t know any better I’d think it was an outright plea to be fired.
This obviously isn’t anything new. Doug has been pass-happy his entire tenure as a play-caller and we shouldn’t expect much else. But when your quarterback is struggling the way he is and your running back is running the way he is I’m not sure how a balanced attack doesn’t just come naturally. If Doug’s play-calling instincts are sound and in-tune then this would come as second nature, but he clearly doesn’t possess the skill or rythym for calling an offense unless things are going well.
I have no problem with throwing 60-70% of the game if that’s how you can best move the ball consistently, but that isn’t the case right now. It’s abundantly clear to anyone watching that the Eagles ticket to success on offense is to run the football and to lean into that identity.
No half-measures, no dipping your toes in the water here—Miles Sanders needs to be touching the ball 30+ times per game. He’s the best player on this offense by a long shot and that’s both an indictment on his talent and the lack of talent around the rest of the offense. Under normal circumstances maybe that many touches isn’t advisable on a weekly basis, but the Eagles league-bottom offense shouldn’t be guided by normal circumstances. I hope I’m not reinventing the wheel by saying an offense needs to run through it’s most talented weapon, and if that player needs 30 touches for the offense to move the ball consistently then so be it.