It would be reasonable to expect more from Emmanuel Sanders, especially in the absence of Michael Thomas from the Saints lineup last week.
But they’re confident the veteran wide receiver will find his place soon, and become a more productive part of their offense.
“We are [just] two weeks in,” Saints coach Sean Payton said, via Luke Johnson of the New Orleans Times-Picayune. “So, I see him being a big part of what we do offensively. We didn’t have enough snaps the other night, unfortunately. That time of possession was a big factor in it. . . .
“His touches are going to come.”
Sanders has four catches for 33 yards in his first two games with the Saints, with one touchdown.
Quarterback Drew Brees said the intent was to get some deep shots in his direction, though it didn’t work out last week against the Raiders.
“I honestly don’t feel like there have been a ton of opportunities,” Brees said. “We’ve called some downfield shots. For example, we called two in that game that were designed to go to him down the field, unfortunately, the coverage didn’t really dictate that, didn’t really allow that.
“There was a couple other opportunities that for whatever reason, just we didn’t have the time to get it to him or there was a breakdown elsewhere that did not allow it.”
Sanders is still learning the system, so it may be too soon to panic. But there are clearly some issues with the offense that haven’t been resolved, and his numbers illustrate that.