On Wednesday, Eagles running-back Miles Sanders likened the Eagles addition of AJ Brown to practicing and feeling “like an All-Star team.” As the Eagles prepare for their second season under Head Coach Nick Sirianni, the chemistry is at an all time high.
The Philadelphia Eagles are not a franchise that likes to sit by and lie in the shadows of NFL obscurity. Bold, brash players and coaches have come through and have given Philadelphia’s football team a definitive flair for the dramatic.
So should we really be surprised an off-season of positivity was going to be overblown by a player or coach?
While many national pundits likened the comments to when Vince Young called the 2011 off-season additions “the dream team” there are major differences in the two.
In the end, it’s not nearly as big a deal as others are making it out to be.
Miles Sanders full comments
Like the modern journalism age, Miles Sanders comments are being taken out of context. Also in his comments “The vibes are great, always have been. Nick Sirianni is doing a great job just keeping the vibes right, the chemistry good. We compete a lot in practice but we’ve got to see.” Sanders said “It’s gonna come down to camp, taking it day by day, putting everything together.”
Looking at the whole statement, there’s really nothing here to assume that Sanders was making as bold a claim that Young was 11 years ago.
Saying your team is special is nothing new at this point in the off-season.
Back in 2017, in the first practices of the year, then-head coach Doug Pederson had the entire roster thinking of a Super Bowl. Turned out he was dead-right.
The comment on the “all-star team” is not very tacky from Miles Sanders and I’m sure that the team would have much rather him be quiet on how they look in the early stages of OTA’s.
But it’s nothing even remotely close to guaranteeing what Young did.
Timing is Everything
When Vince Young made his questionable call on the Eagles, everyone was put on notice. But the timing of it was also much worse than when Sanders made his comments a day ago.
In 2011, the lockout meant little to no practices for teams which meant the first time the team came together was in training camp. It also meant that Young made the comments just a month out before the season started.
The timing was awful.
Miles Sanders comments while, again, not as bad, comes after OTA’s and in the dead period of the NFL season where nothing is really going on. Training camp hasn’t started, players and coaches are on vacation and the people are starving for football news. For Sanders to come out and say this now, it’s almost perfect timing because people will most likely forget about it by the time real practices begin and the roster is gearing for the start of the regular season.
While Miles Sanders comments made absolutely no sense. To be worried that his comments could come back to bite him as Young’s did in 2011 is ignoring the very real and annoying circumstances of the 2011 season.
Miles Sanders stating that this team could be an “all-star team” isn’t the same as the Vince Young “dream team” fiasco.
Photo by Doug Murray/Icon Sportswire
