Deion Sanders praises united Colorado team amid 4-game skid, points to attitude shift in locker room

Deion Sanders takes pride in one thing the Colorado Buffaloes aren't playing in the midst of a skid — the blame game.

That sort of toxicity, the coach pointed out, has been cleaned out of the locker room. Sanders maintained Tuesday the team hasn't fractured during a four-game losing streak but remains fixated on changing their course of direction.

“I'm trying to say this carefully. I got rid of that,” Sanders said of finger-pointing as the Buffaloes (2-4, 0-3 Big 12) prepare to play at Oklahoma State on Saturday. "That’s why you don’t see that, you don’t hear that. They don’t think like that. They don’t operate like that. These guys are united in there together.

“Nobody’s sitting up there anymore going off on the sideline like, ‘The offense ain’t doing this' or 'The defense didn’t get a stop.’ That's not in this locker room. This is not that kind of party, and I’m proud of that."

The Buffaloes rank last in the league on offense with 19.5 points a game. They fell behind 13-0 at halftime to now-No. 10 Utah last weekend before rallying in a 27-24 loss.

To illustrate his team's tight-knit nature, Sanders pointed to a play that ignited the offense early in the third quarter as Isaac Wilson completed a screen pass that JaQuail Smith broke for a 68-yard touchdown.

“The sideline went crazy because they’re fighting for one another,” Sanders recounted. "It’s all love, it’s all support, and I love those type of moments because that shows how unified we are."

Sanders also wasn't fond of saying his team needed to “regroup" in order to get back on track. He countered with "pivot.”

“You've got to understand these are still young men that are very moved by social (media), by things that people in this room say, by negativity. You've got to have some positive thinking, some positive thoughts,” he said. "We’re preaching positivity, not negativity."

Sanders had the team watch a video from Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Lewis discussing what it takes to get to the next level. It was for encouragement.

“We're always looking for some wrong. We’re attracted to that on social, right?" said Sanders, whose team started 2-0 before their slide. “You harbor on that one bad tweet — or whatever they call it — but you don’t focus on all the good ones. It’s much more good ones than bad ones. So I think that’s what our young men, as well as the staff, should focus on.”

Negativity, the coach said, has never affected him.

"I don't give a darn. I’m way down the street,” Sanders said. "I’ve been hated on when I came out the womb. I think the doctor said something wrong about me. But we're good.”

Another topic that Sanders sidestepped dealt with what he's learned about coaching the QB spot in the absence of Shedeur Sanders running the show. Last season was his first at Colorado without his son and Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter . The Buffaloes have gone 5-13 since they moved on to the NFL.

“That’s yesterday, man. I can’t sit up here and comment about the Shedeur, Travis and that phenomenal era that we have,” Deion Sanders said. “It’s time to move on and move on up, and let’s move it forward. We've got some guys that I feel can do the job."

Sanders supports Wilson, who's thrown for 546 yards and three TD passes over the past two games against ranked teams. Wilson also has five interceptions.

“He just ... resets everybody, gets their mind refocused, and he goes. That’s just who he is,” Sanders said. “You've just got to give us credit as coaches that a lot of things you guys don’t know, you don’t see, you’re not there, you’re not privy to, that (there's) a multitude of reasons of why we've got love for this guy.”

The Buffaloes are 13 1/2-point underdogs Saturday against quarterback Drew Mestemaker and the Cowboys.

“These young men are not to be counted out. The staff is not to be counted out," Sanders said. "I really hope you don’t count me out because I’m going to fight, regardless of whatever's in front of me. That’s just who we are and how we’re built. I don’t think you see quit in 99% of the team.”

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