Miles Sanders vs. Kenneth Gainwell: Who Has Edge in Eagles’ Pass-Heavy Offense?

Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni doomed his team on Monday Night Football against the Dallas Cowboys. 

Sirianni dialed up just three rushing plays for his running backs on Monday night, and the Dallas defense was able to tee off on Jalen Hurts all night long. 

Miles Sanders, who’s first carry didn’t come until the second quarter, had two carries for 27 yards (his first one went for 24) and backup Kenneth Gainwell registered one rush for two yards on the night. 

The Eagles unbalanced attack was easily stopped by Dallas, but Sirianni claimed Philly was trying to keep up with Dallas, which is why it didn’t run the ball much. 

“We wanted to make sure we were able to keep up with them,” Sirianni said. “We knew they were an explosive offense. We wanted to be able to push the ball down the field and hit some of the underneath zones that we saw while also obviously mixing the run game in there and the screen game. You fall behind a little bit, you have to get off that game plan a little bit. We knew we had to score with this team because we knew they were able to score and score quickly.”

Despite getting a defensive touchdown to tie the game at seven early in the first quarter, Sirianni was hellbent on throwing the ball while Dallas’ offense had methodical drives with a solid mix of run and pass. 

So what does this all mean for Sanders and Gainwell? 

Philadelphia is a 7.5-point underdog against the Kansas City Chiefs on WynnBET in Week 4, but the Chiefs have the league’s second-worst run defense through the first three weeks. Will Sirianni turn to one of his backs to carry the load?

He should turn to Sanders, who is averaging 5.2 yards per carry this season, but a look at the stats says that Gainwell could make this a fairly even split in Week 4.

Kenneth Gainwell vs. Miles Sanders Stat Comparison

Touches (Carries and Receptions)

• Sanders: 38
• Gainwell: 23

Rushing Yards

• Sanders: 156 (5.2 YPC)
• Gainwell: 53 (3.3 YPC)

Receiving Yards

• Sanders: 71
• Gainwell: 56

Touchdowns

• Sanders: 0
• Gainwell: 1

Snap Counts

• Sanders: 121 (64.71 percent)
• Gainwell: 62 (33.16 percent)

While Sanders looks like the better back on paper, Gainwell’s usage has been frustrating so far this season. Sanders played a season-low 60.3 percent of the snaps in Week 3, and Sirianni’s penchant for the passing game favors Gainwell, who has 10 targets to Sanders 11 in nearly 60 less snaps. 

The Eagles should be able to run all over Kansas City even without guard Isaac Seumalo, who suffered a season-ending foot injury on Monday, but it will be up to Sirianni’s play calling to decide whether or not one of these backs has a breakout game.

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