Could Sanders’ injury affect Broncos run game more than expected?

Since wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders went down for the season with a torn Achilles, the Denver Broncos have dropped back-to-back games against the San Francisco 49ers and Cleveland Browns.

Sanders’ impact in the passing game is readily apparent, but could the wide receiver’s absence actually be having a bigger effect on the Broncos running game?

“I don’t know if we fully appreciated what Emmanuel Sanders was bringing to the table, even when he wasn’t catching the football,” said “Stokley and Zach” co-host Zach Bye on Tuesday.

In the four games after Demaryius Thomas was traded to the Houston Texans and Sanders became the No. 1 wide receiver, the Broncos have averaged 131. 25 yards per game on the ground at a clip of 5.47 yards per carry.

The next two games, after Sanders went down for the season, Denver has averaged 67.5 yards per game, running the ball at an average of 2.87 yards per carry.

Bye’s co-host, Brandon Stokley, said Sanders is an “attention grabber,” that he’s a guy defensive coordinators make sure their players know about heading into a game.

But now with Sanders out, Stokley said, defenses aren’t worried about the young wide receivers filling in behind him and they’re loading the box against the Broncos run.

“I think you look at the way defenses are playing the Broncos now, saying forget these young wide receivers the last couple of weeks. I’m not worried about those guys,” Stokley said. “We’re going to load the box. We’re going to play press coverage on the outside. And we’re going to challenge you to throw the football. We’re going to stop the run at all cost.”

But eight-man boxes can be run against, Stokley said, and that should be an excuse for the Broncos.

“We’ve got to start getting more from this running game if we want to have a chance,” Stokley said.

Follow digital content producer Johnny Hart on Twitter: @JohnnyHart7.