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“Whew,” breathed New Orleans Saints wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders to close out his postgame conference call. “I’m tired.”
That followed a 12-catch, 122-yard effort from Sanders to help his team defeat the Los Angeles Chargers on Monday night, 30-27. It’s a new personal high for Sanders in receptions, which he noted during his press conference. It’s also nearly as many completions as he had in the previous four games combined (14).
He’s come close several times, catching 11 passes three different times — most recently in a 2019 game against the Chicago Bears, gaining 98 yards as a member of the Denver Broncos. His previous 11-catch outings came in 2014 (picking up 149 yards) and 2016 (100 yards even).
From a pure yardage standpoint, this was the ninth-highest total in Sanders’ career. It’s the most receiving yards Sanders has gained in a game since last year’s matchup against the Saints as a member of the San Francisco 49ers, ironically.
Talk about a vintage performance for the 33-year old. He and Drew Brees are in sync as well as any quarterback-receiver duo could hope to be.
And that bodes well for the offense once Michael Thomas is back in the lineup, after serving his one-game suspension. The Saints have a week of rest ahead of them during the bye, and then they’re onto Week 7’s matchup with the Carolina Panthers’ vulnerable secondary. If Sanders can keep this momentum going, there’s no telling what sort of heights he could reach.
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