Sanders wants to hang onto coaches’ trust
PHILADELPHIA >> If a rookie running back fumbles once, it’s an accident. If a rookie running back fumbles twice, it’s a reputation.
That’s how rapidly it goes in the NFL, a quick-twitch league on the field and off.
That’s how quickly a situation can turn from interesting to permanent.
That’s why Miles Sanders was swarmed Tuesday at his locker.
“I’m not interested in looking back,” he would say. “I just want to look ahead.”
Skill for skill, Sanders offers plenty for the Eagles to anticipate. He was the secondround draft choice who, through an impressive training camp, quickly bumped to the top of a renewed running back depth chart.
But that would have been him Sunday, fumbling twice, one of which was recovered by the Lions, helping create a Detroit field goal in a game the Eagles would lose by three. Because it’s the way it works, that meant that within three days, even in the swirl of a two-game losing streak and abbreviated work week, Eagles offensive coordinator Mike Groh effectively was obligated to issue a sports standard: The vote of confidence. Already? “Well, we just continue to talk to him about ball security and guys out there making plays,” Groh said, before a practice at the NewsControl Compound. “I mean, think about the two catches that he made in the game. They were very impactful plays in the game. He really provided offense for us and certainly looked good carrying the ball.
“And we’ve just got to continue to emphasize ball security and be conscious of it.”
So with no immediate danger of dropping on the depth chart, that will be Sanders Thursday night, the Eagles’ primary back in a game against the Green Bay Packers. Yet he knows how the scores are kept in the NFL. And, three games into his promising career, he is already playing catch-up.
“I thought I had a decent game,” Sanders was saying after practice. “Other than the fumbles, I think I played pretty well. I affected the game pretty well. But I still work on getting better.”
Sanders averaged 4.1 yards on his 13 carries Sunday and caught two passes for 73 yards. His 33-yard reception juiced a 10-play, 80-yard, early fourthquarter scoring drive that drew the Eagles within three points. Yet in a loss, at home, in the conference, it was Sanders’ inability to protect the ball that not only became an issue, but provided a reminder that he’d fumbled 10 times in just 308 touches in his Penn State career, too. And while Groh and the Eagles will make sure Sanders is on Lambeau Field with the No. 1 offense Thursday night, they are all aware that the “other than the fumbles” defense has a tragically short NFL shelf life.
“We give a presentation every year on ball security,” Groh said. “(Running backs coach) Duce Staley does a great job talking about how we want to grip the football, with our fingers over the point the ball, with the elbow locked against the rib cage. And so we just continue to emphasize those things, remind the guys of those things. They know it’s important.
“We try to correct some things from college. So it may not be quite the same way as it was in college. He’s not the first guy to fumble in the history of the NFL. But obviously, we don’t want to fumble the ball, we want to take care of the ball. We know the turnovers make it more challenging for us to win. We’ve got to eliminate those things.”
If they don’t, the Eagles have backup plans. Though Sanders will not be demoted because of fumbles, Jordan Howard is growing closer to increasing his playing time the organic way: With his own success.
Howard ran for 37 yards, including a one-yard scoring run, Sunday, catching some attention. And Darren Sproles, though yet to stir this season, is at the point of his career where he doesn’t need a protect-theball tutorial.
“Well, we’ve got a lot of competition,” Groh acknowledged. “Jordan is running the ball strong. He’s pushing the pile. He’s had three good games for us.”
Sanders has had some moments, too, including Sunday, when he accumulated 126 total yards.
For another week, at least, his coaching staff trusts that he can be as productive again.
“The way he’s handled his business from the X’s and O’s standpoint, handled the offense, how he’s run in practice, how he’s caught the ball, all the things that we have seen him do have really given us the confidence to play him,” Doug Pederson said. “He’s done everything he can do through training camp, getting his body in shape and prepared, and now even into the first part of the season. He is young. He understands that. We understand that there’s going to be probably a few growing pains with him.
“But the more we put him out there the better he’s going to get.”
That support, Sanders is determined not to drop.
“It means a lot,” he said. “They are not just keeping me out or benching me, making my confidence lower and beating myself up mentally. So it feels good that they have trust in me to keep growing and keep balling out and keep putting my best out there.”
That’s where the Eagles are, in a brief week, in a tough spot. But in the NFL, footballs, and status, can drop in a hurry.