He knew the score but not the news. Brandon Sanders was aware that his former team, the Giants, had thrashed the Saints last week, but Sanders did not know what carnage the Giants experienced on defense.
“I didn’t know they had as many injuries,” Sanders said. “I just saw the scoreboard and I thought everything was fine.”
Everything wasn’t fine. Percy Ellsworth, the starting free safety, went down with a broken bone in his foot. Shaun Williams, the backup free safety, went down with a pulled hamstring.
And so Sanders, who spent parts of the previous two seasons with the Giants and who this past preseason was signed and waived in the span of two days from Aug. 31 to Sept. 1, was brought in this past Tuesday. It was expected he would provide insurance as the Giants went with rookie Lyle West as the starter tomorrow against the Eagles at Veterans Stadium, but that scenario has been altered. Sanders is slated to make his first NFL start, and he knows until proven otherwise, he’s considered the Achilles heel in an otherwise dominating Giants defense.
Jim Fassel said yesterday that both Sanders and West will play, which means there are two players for the Eagles to target.
“This is the NFL, this is the elite of the elite,” Sanders said. “One thing you know is teams will prepare to attack anywhere you’re weak, and since this defense is very, very strong, I expect them to come right at us. Whoever they put right there. You’ve got to. You got Jason Sehorn, Phillippi Sparks and Sam Garnes and then you’ve got a question mark at free safety right now. You’re going to want to see if me or Lyle are up to speed on the game.”
On Wednesday, Fassel stated that if West was healthy – he’s returning from a pulled hamstring – he would start. But West, a sixth-round pick from San Jose State, is not at full speed. There also is a concern that should anything happen to strong safety Garnes, the Giants will be left with no one to fill that position. West has practiced mostly at strong safety and needs to be Garnes’ backup, which is why he will not start but instead will share time at free safety with Sanders.
At 5-9 and 185 pounds, Sanders is even smaller than West and is dwarfed by Garnes and the other oversized Giants safeties. Sanders stuck on the roster the past two years because of his special-teams skills, but he’s never played a down as part of the regular defense.
A member of the famed Desert Swarm defense at the University of Arizona, Sanders started every game for four years, yet he was not drafted. He had a tryout with the Chiefs and after two years with the Giants was picked up this past offseason by the Browns in the expansion draft. Sanders, 26, did not make it through the final cut and was out of football before the Giants came calling once again.
Still on the Browns’ payroll, he spent his days working out in Tucson, determined to stay in shape. “What he lacks in size and speed he makes up for in heart, determination and an instinct to play the game,” Fassel said.
Sanders said he was surprised by how much he remembered when thrust into the defensive backfield this week.
“I’m not totally in football shape, I know I will be winded, but I’m not that bad off,” he said.
It is helpful to the Giants that the Eagles have the weakest passing attack in the league, which should benefit Sanders.
“Brandon can play, everybody will see,” Garnes said. “He may be one of the best players to ever play in college football. No joke. Pick up tape and watch Arizona in that Desert Swarm. He hits hard. If he’s a starter on this team, it’s a good chance he’ll be the hardest hitter on this team.”
Ellsworth and Williams will both be out at least a month, so this will be no one-game trial at free safety. The job belongs to Sanders and West for several games.
“It’s how this world is, I guess,” Sanders said. “This is the profession I’m in. You can be out one week and in another week. It just so happens I was out for a few more than one week.”