Fangio pleased with Emmanuel Sanders' debut but needs to get in football 'shape'

Vic Fangio told media early in the spring that he had a sneaking suspicion that Emmanuel Sanders would recover from his torn Achilles a lot sooner than people thought.

That's exactly how it shook out, as Sanders returned to 11-on-11 practice with the Denver Broncos during the second week of August and finally made his debut in preseason Game 3 vs. the San Francisco 49ers.

Sanders was quite clearly a focal point for the Broncos' offense and Joe Flacco. Flacco targeted him three times (technically), although the third one (a 45-yard connection) would be wiped off the slate due to a holding penalty.

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Sanders also carried the ball once on an end-around vs. the Niners, picking up 19 yards. It was an impressive performance in limited action for the 32-year-old wideout.

However, the reps Sanders received were closely monitored and he didn't play past the first quarter. Even still, he was quite winded, according to Fangio.

“Yeah, and again I wasn’t surprised I thought he would [play well]," Fangio said on Thursday. "What his work does go to show you though is he’s worked as hard as you can work since he’s been hurt, running on treadmills, progressing throughout the rehab and working hard, but he got out there in the game and played his snaps and he got tired fast and got winded. It just goes to show that playing football is really the only way to get in shape to play football because he’s in as good of shape as he can be in in light of his injury.”

There is a difference between being in shape and being in 'football shape'. Sanders is in phenomenal, peak physical condition. But those burst plays, one after another in which the player runs full speed, exerting all effort, takes the conditioning requirements to a whole other level.

That's something that Sanders can only ease into at this point and it won't fully come until the first quarter of the regular season when he's actually playing throughout an entire game, not just a small handful of snaps.

Sanders is not only recovering from the torn Achilles but also a 'tightrope' surgery he underwent on the opposite ankle earlier this year, too. So far so good for the two-time Pro Bowler.

The Broncos will return to preseason action on Saturday night as they play host to the L.A. Rams.

Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen.