Denver Broncos wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders wants everybody to know that he was super serious a few weeks ago when he called his current quarterback Peyton Manning a better leader than his former one, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. At the same time, Sanders also wants everybody to know that what he said shouldn’t be considered a slight against the Steelers signal caller.
“It wasn’t meant as disrespect for anyone. I’ve got so much love for everybody over there in Pittsburgh, and they know it — they know me. I didn’t mean any harm,” Sanders said recently on the NFL Network, according to Pro Football Talk. “It’s just how Peyton is treating everybody out here, I’ve never seen somebody lead the way that he leads.
“That’s no diss to Ben. That’s just saying that, of every football team that I’ve played on, he’s the best leader I’ve seen. And everyone in the world knows that — when it comes to Peyton Manning, they know that he’s going to study, he’s going to do the right thing, he’s going to be where he’s supposed to be. That was just all meant for Peyton.”
Sanders went on to say that he doesn’t regret making those comments that prompted a response from his former teammate Antonio Brown. Brown made sure to defend Roethlisberger and called Sanders’ comments “terrible” and that he considered it the equivalent of throwing a former teammate underneath the proverbial bus.
Sanders went on to say that there are no hard feelings between him and Brown even though he has yet to talk to his former teammate since he originally said what he did.
“I haven’t talked to those guys. A.B. called a couple days ago but I’ve been so busy,” Sanders said. “But A.B. and all those guys, they know that we’re brothers, they know that it’s all good. They know me, they know there are no hard feelings and I have no hard feelings toward them. I play for the Denver Broncos but I’ve still got so much love for Steeler Nation and the Pittsburgh Steelers.”
So how are things going so far with Sanders during the preseason? In the Broncos preseason opener against the Seattle Seahawks, the Steelers former third-round draft pick played 20 snaps on offense but was not targeted and thus didn’t record a catch. He’s also been battling a thigh injury that caused him to sit out a few practices.
Hopefully Sanders is staying after practice to get some extra work in with Manning due to the time that he’s missing, but that’s really none of my business.
