The Crows gave up a seven-goal first quarter to the Bombers and although they were able to win the following three terms, never took control of the game and eventually lost by nine points.
The defeat will leave the Crows two games outside the top eight if North Melbourne beats Melbourne on Sunday, with Adelaide to meet in-form local rivals Port Adelaide next week.
Five talking points: Essendon v Adelaide
Sanderson said his side had let itself down.
"I'm really disappointed. Sometimes the emotion when you speak to the players in a meeting afterwards is you vent, you get angry, but the effort was there, the intensity was there," he said.
"The execution at critical times wasn't. The good sides, when it matters, they execute. That's what we've got to keep working on.
"The players are the same, they're disappointed, they're gutted in the rooms. They know it was an opportunity missed. I admire the way they fought the game out, but the start, when we couldn't allow them to get a sniff, and we gave it to them and they took full advantage of it."
The Crows have gone win-loss for their past eight games, highlighting a consistency problem.
Sanderson said it was "emotionally draining" for the club to be up and down on a weekly basis, and called on more players to stand up when the team is not playing at its best.
"We're a good side when we get an even contribution from the 22 players. But again tonight there was just too many players who didn't execute their role or didn't really make a difference in the game," he said.
"There's unfortunately too many guys who, when we win, they play well (and) when we lose we don't see enough of them. We just keep pushing our young players to ensure they're contributing for four quarters.
"It's happened too many times this year."
Midfielder Scott Thompson gathered 41 disposals and Matthew Wright was impressive with 26, but the Crows' forward group dragged them back into the contest after their sluggish start.
Taylor Walker presented up the ground, James Podsiadly worked well deeper, Eddie Betts was at their feet, and Josh Jenkins was everywhere in between, leaping for marks and booting four goals in a standout showing.
"He was fantastic. Josh is still very much learning, obviously with the basketball background he hasn't played a lot of footy. He still does some things in games where we shake our heads," Sanderson said.
"He's going to be a really important player for us. He's still very raw, he's inexperienced, [but] he's leading our goalkicking this year."
Twitter: @AFL_CalTwomey
