Nick Sirianni said he didn’t hear the loud sarcastic cheer from fans last Thursday night when the Eagles gave Miles Sanders a rare carry in the third quarter.
But he says he gets it.
“Again, I understand the frustration,” Sirianni said on 94WIP with Angelo Cataldi on Monday morning. “There’s no doubt we’ve gotta get the ball to Miles more and we gotta be more balanced pass and run. I get their frustration. And like I said, we’re doing everything we can to fix that.”
That five-yard carry for Sanders in the third quarter was just his third rushing attempt of the game. He finished with 9 for 56 in the 28-22 loss.
This has become an ongoing theme through six games this season. The Eagles are running the ball with their running backs at an alarmingly low rate. Sanders, 24, is healthy but has just 57 total carries in six games, an average of 9.5 per game. And in three of the last four games, he’s been under double digits in carries.
There are 29 running backs in the NFL with more carries than Sanders. Just eight of them have a better yards-per-carry average.
Sanders has had a role in the passing game with 18 catches. But even with his catches includes, he is still averaging just 12.5 touches per game.
The Eagles are coming off a mini bye week thanks to the Thursday night game, so it’ll be interesting to see if anything changes. On Friday, Sirianni seemed to understand that this pass-run ration can’t continue.
“Now, we've been heavy pass, as we all know, but we always want to get that closer to at least 75 percent,” Sirianni said on Friday. “Never be above 75 percent in anything because we know that's where defenses really look at that and make plans off of that.”
One of the reasons the pass-run ration has been so out of whack is because of the RPO game. Sirianni previously said he counts the RPOs that turn into passes as runs. He has also previously said he’ll live with these lopsided rations because of RPOs. But it seems like even Sirianni realizes this ratio can’t continue.
According to ProFootballFocus, the Eagles have had 272 passing plays and 108 running plays through six games this season. But Sanders and Kenny Gainwell have combined for just 72 rushing attempts.
This isn’t the only thing wrong with the Eagles’ offense. It’s just the most noticeable problem.
The Eagles have scored 22 or fewer points in four of their six games this season. In the last two weeks, they’ve had just 273 yards and 213 total yards of offense against the Panthers and Buccaneers.
Sirianni has said he’ll continue to be the Eagles’ play caller and is confident in his ability in that role because of the preparation throughout the week.
But the results simply need to get better.
“When you’re not playing good on offense, that’s the first place that the fans should look, is the play caller and what he’s calling and if it’s working or not,” Sirianni said on WIP. “And obviously, these last two games in particular, we’ve been bad on offense. There’s no hiding that, there’s no question about it.
“I understand their frustration. I’m always the one who’s going to look in the mirror first. Because if I want my team to be accountable to their actions, I need to make sure I’m accountable to my actions first. That’s something that we’re working hard on and working like crazy on just to make sure we get that fixed.”
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