Why Emmanuel Sanders will bounce back in Week 16 vs. Rams

The newest San Francisco 49ers receiver had a rough game on Sunday against the Atlanta Falcons. Let’s take a look at why Emmanuel Sanders will bounce back on Saturday night when the Los Angeles Rams come to town.

The San Francisco 49ers didn’t get much from wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium during their loss to the Atlanta Falcons. That even seems like an understatement, since Sanders finished with just two catches for nine yards on four targets.

Pro Football Focus didn’t think much of his day, either, as the receiver was graded out with his lowest mark of the season with just a 48.6 overall, a 50.9 receiving and was docked with one drop.

Worst of all, Sanders just seemed to disappear, even though he was on the field for 61 of the 49ers’ 64 offensive snaps. While he wasn’t the only one, as outside of tight end George Kittle‘s 13 catches for 134 yards, the 49ers pass catchers caught just nine balls for 66 yards.

It was a little dire in that department.

So the easy answer to the question of why Sanders will bounce back on Saturday against the Los Angeles Rams is that it really can’t get much worse. But that’s not the only reason for the expected return to form for Sanders.

The first thing to keep in mind is, that while the Rams have traded for former Jaguars cornerback Jalen Ramsey, they also traded away Marcus Peters to the Baltimore Ravens and Aqib Talib to the Dolphins, essentially negating the addition to Ramsey to the squad.

While Ramsey has played decently in his time with the Rams (PFF grades him out at a 69.9 defensive grade since the trade), the trades of Peters and Talib means there’s nobody on the other side of the defense to match up with the 49ers receivers. So unless Ramsey follows Sanders around, which may happen, the other Rams cornerbacks shouldn’t put up much of a fight.

Troy Hill, the likely starter obvious Ramsey, has actually graded out as an overall better defender than Ramsey, according to PFF (76.4 overall). But his coverage grade has been wildly fluctuating, from the highest of highs (88.4 against the Cincinnati Bengals, 80.5 two weeks ago against the Seattle Seahawks) and the lowest of lows (45.7 against the Baltimore Ravens, 36.2 last week against the Dallas Cowboys).

There’s also the matter of what the Rams will do about Kittle, who torched them to the tune of eight catches for 103 yards in Week 6, and has been a handful for most teams over the last two seasons. If the 49ers tight end can control the middle of the field, as he is wont to do, it might leave Sanders to patrol either the outside or the shorter areas of the middle, which he should be able to take advantage of.

Rams linebacker Cory Littleton, who is likely to be tasked with trying to rein in Kittle, struggled in coverage during the Week 6 matchup (PFF had him at a 59.6 coverage grade for the game). And if that happens again, the 49ers having another top-notch receiving option, which they didn’t back in Los Angeles, it should bode well for both Kittle and Sanders.

While balance may ultimately be key to the 49ers offensive success on Saturday, they will certainly need more from their receivers than they got against Atlanta on Sunday. Given the Rams defensive personnel, Sanders should have the opportunity to bounce back for Week 16.