Shilo Sanders explains how he reacted to Deion Sanders' criticism of him after Kansas State game

On Saturday, Colorado defensive back Shilo Sanders made his return to the field after missing three games due to an arm injury, which required surgery. After Colorado’s 31-28 loss to Kansas State, Buffaloes head coach and Shilo’s father, Deion Sanders, tore into his son for his lackluster comeback performance.

“I thought he played horrible,” Sanders said. “I thought he was rusty. I thought he didn’t have his footing. I thought he wasn’t breaking down. He was coming up trying to make the play but open field, one-on-one tackle, with that kind of back, that ain’t an easy task. But, he’s gonna do better. I know what he has in him.”

Shilo didn’t take offense to his father’s critiques, instead agreeing with the harsh evaluation of his performance.

“We got on the phone right after the game, actually. I know I played horrible. You know I played horrible,” Shilo Sanders said. “It wasn’t like anything bad. It’s just, you play horrible. That’s what happened.”

Kansas State running back DJ Giddens gave Shilo Sanders fits all night, shaking him in the open field multiple times. At one point in the game, Sanders attempted to meet Giddens head-on near the line of scrimmage and ended up on his knees while Giddens glided by.

Worse, when Sanders was able to get ahold of a Wildcat, he struggled to take them down. On numerous occasions, Kansas State players broke Sanders’ tackle attempts for extra yards.

Despite his multiple mistakes, Sanders still finished the game with seven tackles, the fourth-most on the team. Nonetheless, it was far from an excellent showing for Sanders or his fellow defensive backs.

In the Big 12 battle, Kansas State quarterback Avery Johnson completed 15-of-his-23 passes for 224 yards and two touchdowns compared to one interception. Most notably, Johnson threw a 50-yard touchdown pass to Jayce Brown to take a 31-28 lead with just over two minutes left in the game.

Colorado failed to respond. In the end, it was a frustrating night for the Sanders family.

“Sometimes when you lose, you go, ‘Dang, we should’ve won that. We should’ve had that,’” Deion Sanders said. “(Tonight) was one of those games… for us, we felt like we let that one slip away. And we have to do a better job of taking advantage of opportunities we had to win the game, because we had several.”

Colorado will have a chance to bounce back next week when it squares off against Arizona at 4 p.m. ET. The game will air live on FOX.