Broncos WR Emmanuel Sanders: Patriots Shouldn't Be Super Bowl Champs, Because They Cheated

BOSTON (CBS) -- Anyone who's been closely following the saga known as "DeflateGate" knows that the situation has many layers.

Yet to Broncos receiver Emmanuel Sanders, the situation is simple: The Patriots cheated, and they are not worthy to be Super Bowl champions.

That's what Sanders told to a group of youth football players, as captured on camera by 9News in Denver.

"Am I mad because of DeflateGate? I feel like I'm on ESPN with that question," Sanders said when asked by one of the football campers. "Yeah, yeah, I'm kind of mad. I don't think that they're supposed to be the Super Bowl champion this year."

Sanders continued, and singled out Tom Brady (without stating his name).

"You're not supposed to cheat," Sanders said. "Cheating is not good, especially when you got guys who are working their butts off for 365 days out of the year and one person cheats, whether it helped them win the Super Bowl or not, they still cheated and shouldn't be the champion."

Sanders, just two years ago, very nearly became a Patriot, as New England offered him a contract when he was a restricted free agent in 2013. The Steelers, however, matched the offer sheet, and Sanders remained in Pittsburgh that season. He signed with Denver last year and spent the season catching passes from Peyton Manning.

In his five-year career, Sanders has carved out some solid stats against New England, averaging 6.5 receptions and 90 yards in his four games vs. New England. He found the end zone in his first game against the Patriots in 2010, but he's yet to score since. Look -- he even beat Super Bowl hero Malcolm Butler on this play in November:

But of those four games, Sanders has lost three of them. New England has outscored Sanders' teams 154-103 in those games.

So ... Pittsburgh, Denver, Manning, getting outscored by an average of 13 points in head-to-head meetings. While it might be safe to assume that Sanders didn't read the Wells report, nor was he kept abreast of AEI's recent report, nor has he ever been aware of PSI in footballs in his entire life, it doesn't matter. Sanders certainly isn't predisposed to giving the Patriots the benefit of the doubt. So they're cheaters. And cheating is ... bad.

You might be interested to know that the Patriots will travel to Denver to face Sanders and the Broncos in Week 12. These comments might make an appearance in Patriots meetings that week.

Read more from Michael Hurley by clicking here. You can email him or find him on Twitter @michaelFhurley.

In:
• Denver Broncos
• NFL
• Tom Brady
• New England Patriots
• deflategate