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Miles Sanders vents about how Eagles used him in the Super Bowl
Miles Sanders Joe Rondone/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK

Miles Sanders vents about how Eagles used him in the Super Bowl

Carolina Panthers running back Miles Sanders had the fifth-most rushing yards in the NFL last season as a member of the Philadelphia Eagles.

So, few could blame Sanders for the frustration he felt when he had just seven carries for 16 yards in Philly’s 38-35 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII in February.

"Last game of the season? For all of the marbles? Everybody can answer that question," Sanders said of how he was used in the Super Bowl, via the Associated Press. "If they put themselves in my shoes, would they be happy? I don't want to make headlines, (but) if it does, I don't care.”

The seven carries Sanders got was his lowest output of the season and it was just the second time all year he didn’t reach double-digit carries. Second-year running back Kenneth Gainwell, who had just 53 rush attempts during the regular season, had the same amount of carries as Sanders but played a more significant role in the offense, playing 51 percent of the Eagles' offensive snaps (38 snaps) to Sanders’s 35 percent (26 snaps).

It wasn’t the first time Sanders took a backseat to Gainwell during the team’s postseason run. During the NFC Championship, Gainwell had more carries (14 to 11) and rushing yards (48 to 42) than Sanders — a surprising development considering Gainwell never had double-digit carries during the season and had more than five rushing attempts in a single game just once. 

While Sanders barely edged out Gainwell in postseason carries (35 to 33), the 26-year-old running back was adamant that his role in the postseason did not play a factor in his signing a four-year, $25 million deal with the Panthers in March.

“I can get into that another day, maybe,” Sanders added. “Maybe you should ask (the Eagles) why I’m moving here. This is going to give me more opportunities to help my team win, and that’s all I’m about.”

The Panthers have had a running back rush for 1,000 or more yards just twice since 2010 — Christian McCaffrey in 2018 and 2019. Sanders could be the first RB not named McCaffrey to hit the 1,000-yard plateau since Jonathan Stewart in 2009.

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