On Tuesday’s episode of First Take host Max Kellerman said that it is fair to call the Patriots cheaters after the team admitted that people associated with the team filmed the sidelines during a game between the Cleveland Browns and Cincinnati Bengals.

Asked if it was fair to call the Patriots cheaters, Kellerman responded, “Yes, and liars too, I think, or at least they cheated and lied.”

Kellerman’s comments stem from a recent report of a production crew filming the Bengals’ sideline on Sunday during their game against the Browns. When Bengals head coach Zac Taylor was asked about the issue, he told a reporter that he would not comment, but that the Patriots were aware of the filming.

With the Bengals are set to take on the Patriots on Sunday, Taylor’s comments sparked widespread concern and led to the NFL opening an investigation and on Monday, the Patriots released a statement admitting that they “inappropriately filmed the field from the press box.”

According to the statement, the team was filming as part of a behind-the-scenes miniseries called “Do Your Job,” and the film crew had no affiliation to the team, but instead were independently contracted. The statement also said that the Patriots obtained permission from the Browns to shoot the game, but not the Bengals or the NFL.

Despite the Patriots statement, Kellerman said he believes that the Patriots were filming the game for team intelligence purposes and not for the documentary.

“And now the Patriots give the exact excuse they were giving in 2015,” Kellerman said, referring a 2015 article from Business Insider that detailed how the team would send staff members to games by having them pose as members of the media.

“Soon, advanced scouts would be sent to the games of upcoming Patriots’ opponents to film the play signals. The scouts would go undercover as media members, with media credentials listed under ‘Patriots TV’ or ‘Kraft Productions’ and were prepared with excuses of what to say they were filming if security asked,” Kellerman read from the article, before adding, “and now the Patriots give the exact excuse they were giving in 2015.”

“It’s like the Astros,” Kellerman continued, referring to an ongoing sign-stealing scandal involving the 2019 World Series runner-up. “The Astros are an advanced organization, but their ethics are not only questionable, but they seem to me, rotten.”

The Astros are accused of setting up cameras in their stadium to steal signs from opposing teams, and MLB is currently conducting an investigation into the charges.

This is not the first time the Patriots have been involved in a cheating scandal. In 2007 they were punished by the NFL for videotaping the New York Jets defensive play calls and in 2015 they were accused of deliberately deflating the footballs during their AFC championship game against the Indianapolis Colts.

The NFL has yet to speak about the recent Patriots scandal, but according to ESPN’s Dan Graziano, they have a copy of the video and are in the process of investigating.

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick also denied any knowledge of filming while speaking to reporters during a Tuesday conference call.

“I have no involvement in this and no knowledge of it, and so I really don’t have any idea what exactly is going on. I can tell you that we’ve never, as a coaching staff and me, personally, have never viewed any video footage at all of anything that those production people have done, other than what’s shown on public television or something like that,” Belichick said.

The Patriots and the Bengals will face off at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday.